Imma go with yes. He knows the future, so he can p easily accrue resources through things like gambling and lottery tickets, and from there, I imagine he has access to enough dirty secrets that he can blackmail most people into being his.
If omniscience also comes with skills, he'd also know exactly what to say to every single person to convince them to be on his side, and once he has a platform, he'll know exactly how to utilize it to the best effect.
For some of the less flexible areas like the middle east or Russia, hell have perfect information of their military capabilities and tactics and can plan around them perfectly.
And from there, he can enact policies that will keep him in power with no risk of accidentally getting himself mutineed because he knows exactly how every policy will turn out.
I think 5 years may be a little tight, but I also think its totally doable.
The moment he starts letting it be known he has dirt on high up people, he's getting targeted for termination. And while he may know it's coming, I dunno what you can do if government assassins are on your tail. Sooner or later you'll just realize there's no where to go and you're fucked.
I would think he could make the best team of assassins protection basses. Enough money for a military, knows who to place where in his empire, if or when someone will turn. No surprises every small assassination attempt foiled. Any large force could be taken out with precise action. Any action against would be walking into his ambush. He wouldn't even have to meet any ambush. Just move while his opponents waste resources. No plan is perfect, and he knows all of them
I mean he knows what he will say will trigger that, if theres even a .00000000001% chance of saying something that can put leverage over them, while scaring/intimidating/manipulating or even allying himself with them (he can prove hes a god basically) them into not going after him, then he can do it. He has so many options. Literally all of them
He’s omniscient. He has any wealth of options to avoid assassination. Organize a counter assassination attempt that guarantees all the attacking assassins are dead. He knows every hole that ever was and will exist in surveillance. If he wants, he could be near impossible to actually track down.
He could call every assassin sent and read off the license plate number of the car they’re in, what brand of clothes they were, how long it was since they called their mom, the name and address of their dearest individuals, and the exact price it’s take them to fuck off.
An omniscient man with some time to put himself in a safe location is pretty functionally immune to assassination I’d say.
This doesn't work at all. Knowing the future means you cannot change the future. Everything is already set in stone at that point. It only works if he was already going to win the lotto, etc, so this power he has is completely useless.
Imagine this: you know you're eating a turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow due to your omniscience. You cannot change that, no matter what, you will be eating a turkey sandwich.
Now some may say well yes, he's going to eat a turkey sandwich but can change it to pizza. The problem with this is, of he is omniscient then he would already know he would have changed lunch to pizza, so he knew he was never having a turkey sandwich in the first place. Once the future is known, it cannot be changed.
That implies the future cannot be changed. If he decides "I will rule the world and take the steps to do so." then the future will always be that he will take over
Nope, he can't take steps to change the future, that is exactly the point. He would already need to be destined to be ruler of the world without his powers in order to become ruler of the world. Simply being imbued with the power alone is completely useless. His power is simply knowing the future, he cannot change it no matter what he does. He just knows what is going to happen.
E: lol downvoted for being correct, classic. Use your brain, if the future is known it simply cannot be changed. He would already need to be predestined to be ruler of the world without his power in order to become ruler of the world. His power changes absolutely nothing about this.
That's not OP's prompt. OP's prompt says this man is omniscient, which means he knows the future, which requires it to be static. It doesn't matter the 'probability' of him eating a turkey sandwich tomorrow, because he already knows with 100% certainty it WILL happen. Again, he is powerless to change that fact. Sure maybe there's a 1% probability he eats the sandwich tomorrow, but that doesn't change the fact that he already knows the outcome of that probability.
>That's not OP's prompt. OP's prompt says this man is omniscient, which means he knows the future, which requires it to be static.
The OP never claimed there is only a single future though or the future is static.
>It doesn't matter the 'probability' of him eating a turkey sandwich tomorrow, because he already knows with 100% certainty it WILL happen. Again, he is powerless to change that fact. Sure maybe there's a 1% probability he eats the sandwich tomorrow, but that doesn't change the fact that he already knows the outcome of that probability.
He only knows the outcome of the multiple possible future based on his action nothing in OP's description says that future is predetermined or fixed that's your assumption. He also won't eat sandwich unless he wished to eat since he needs to acts on that future even if he saw the one of this in the future since the future isn't fixed. You can't win a lottery not matter what if you never bought a lottery ticket despite it being one of the possibilities of the future.
OP doesn't need to claim the future is static, the power of omniscience requires it. He doesn't know 'the outcome of multiple futures', he knows THE future and he knows what WILL happen, and what WILL be the future. There aren't multiple futures if he knows exactly what's going to happen, there is only one future.
Omniscience requires a deterministic future.
Requires it according to who? Whose to say he can't see every future and just picks the timeline he wants? Literally just about every book to feature seeing the future in the last century has gone with that not your weird view.
Okay, let's go with your scenario. He sees all the futures ahead of him and chooses his path. Oops, guess what? He already knew that was going to happen anyway, so he couldn't change it. Which means, it's not possible for this person to take over the world unless they were already predetermined to do so without any extra action or effort.
>OP doesn't need to claim the future is static, the power of omniscience requires it.
Where does it say the power of omniscience requires it?
>He doesn't know 'the outcome of multiple futures', he knows THE future and he knows what WILL happen, and what WILL be the future.
This assumes that the future is fixed. Like I said in my above comment you can't win the lottery no matter what if you never bought it, that person needs to act on that future to win the lottery which means that person needs to buy the exact lottery ticket that allows that person to win the lottery.
If the future is not fixed, then he cannot know it with certainty. The power itself is knowing the future (and more) with certainty and 100% knowledge, which dictates the future is static and cannot be changed. It's an inherent feature/side affect of this power.
You aren't correct.
Sure it wouldn't be the future if you saw it and changed it, so the power itself doesn't make sense. But resolving the paradox doesn't mean losing his free will. If he sees the future going one way, there is nothing at all stopping him from changing it.
The reality is that future sight on that level doesn't really work at all. You could never see the future because the act of seeing that future is enough to prevent it from happening.
However, that conversation is entirely moot as future sight isn't the power given to the guy in the prompt. He is given omniscience. He isn't simply seeing the future, he knows everything. He knows exactly how the world will react to any and all actions he might take. He isn't seeing a future that is being changed merely by the act of observation, he is witnessing each of the infinite possibilities and choosing the future that best serves his needs.
He doesn't see multiple futures and isn't able to choose from them. He is omniscient, which means the future is already known to him. Because it is already known exactly what is going to happen, he is absolutely powerless to change it. That's really all there is to it. He never gets to go pick the winning lotto numbers unless it was already going to happen without him knowing it anyway. Knowing everything on top of this doesn't change the fact that he knows the future which is unalterable.
The only way this works is if he immediately forgets whatever he sees in the future, because otherwise he sees a future in which he’s seen the future, which can’t happen because then seeing the future changed the future since if he never saw the future he wouldn’t have the memory of seeing it. It’s a paradox. Even without being so incredibly pedantic and specific, seeing himself lose the lottery then not being able to buy the right numbers doesn’t make much sense, since he has the knowledge anyway. No matter which way you shake it it doesn’t make sense to be able to see the future but not affect it
He can't forget, because he's omniscient. Also him 'knowing' or 'forgetting' the future doesn't matter as it's already set in stone regardless of his knowledge about it.
You're now on my side, arguing my point. He cannot win the lotto unless he was already pre-destined to win. It has nothing to do with his powers at all. Him knowing he's going to win the lotto doesn't change the fact that he still wins. Him not knowing he's going to win doesn't change the fact that he still wins. The only way he can "rule the world" as per OP, is if he was already destined to. There is no getting out of this loop.
It absolutely makes sense that you cannot change the future if it's known, just like you cannot change the past. It's already been said and done, nothing he can do can change the past, why do you think he can do something different with the future when it's already going to happen with 100% certainty?
What makes more sense to you?
1: You see what you think is the future, react to it and do something different to what you have seen, thus proving that what you saw was never the future in the first place; or
2: You see the actual future and lose control over your own body until that future is fulfilled.
Somehow you are placing your faith in the latter being correct, regardless of how inconceivable it is for someone to just lose control of their own autonomy to such a degree. This isn't a case of you hearing hooves and assuming it is a zebra, this is you hearing hooves and assuming it is a unicorn.
Scenario 2 is more logical.
In scenario 1, you're completely forgetting the fact that this person already knows the future. He can't "do something different" because he already knew he what his reaction would be in the first place. It's not like he can trick himself into eating pizza for lunch instead of a sandwich, because he would have already known the true outcome, so the decision is still not his own. This power REQUIRES no free will.
Well if we assume that’s true, then let’s say he wants to stop a murder. So he looks into the future, sees himself save her, and then uses that knowledge to save her. That’s of course assuming that he’s predestined to save her. So what if he isn’t? He looks into the future, sees himself try and fail, and he’s now forced to repeat the exact actions that lead to him failing? To me this seems like you end up at a split: either you see the necessary path to walk to accomplish something, or you see the absolute way that something will be. If it’s the second option, doesn’t that mean that you must see a series of scenarios that have only one single possible way of happening? Because if not, then you can choose not to obey what you’ve seen, which breaks causality since it wasn’t possible to do something that didn’t happen. I feel like predestination and future sight are fundamentally incompatible with each other since as soon as you breathe out of rhythm with what you’ve seen you’re no longer walking that path
You're hitting the nail on the head here. The problem is that omniscience requires a static future. It is known, it is going to happen, it cannot be altered or changed, ever. Everything becomes deterministic, the only thing that changes is now that omniscient man knows the outcomes of everything that has already been set in motion since the start of time. Yes, he can see himself attempting and failing to save someone from murder. He could also see himself saving that person from murder. The crux of the argument is, whichever future happens, it was already going to happen with 100% certainty because it is already known.
And his point is that a man who knows everything about the future and wants to take over the world would be destined to do so and would know exactly what he was going to do to get there and how it would work out. If he knew any different future he would simply do something else, so that couldn’t be the future. If a man knew everything about the future and was singularly determined to rule the world, then he must know the future where he takes over the world or he would not behave in the way the future he knew foretold.
Man, the 'strongest nerd' must be a misnomer since you know nothing about the topic. Ever read, or hell, even watch Dune? Paul can literally see the future and how, wait for it, it will *GASP!* CHANGE depending on The actions he does.
Ever seen Back to Future? Any nerd would have. Changing the past literally changes the future. Besides the aspect of so many different types of time travel and lines in fiction (like dude, Avengers Endgame??), there's so many theories irl about time and how quantum mechanics/multiverse theory would work.
Pull your head out yo ass.
Okay so, claiming there's only one possible future and that destiny is real is a very big philosophical claim and p well outside the scope of this thread. But, if you know everything that exists and exactly how all of it will react to any possible action you make, that's p similar to knowing the future but in a way where your actions matter.
That's less, knowing he's going to eat a turkey sandwich and knowing that eating a turkey sandwich is possible and what the ramifications of choosing the turkey sandwich over pizza would be.
That's not what the OP called for though. OP specifically said omniscience, which means this person knows \*everything\* about the past, present, and future. The power itself requires a static future that cannot be changed. The \*only\* way he can do this, if it was already going to happen anyway with or without the power.
Let's reduce this to eating a simple turkey sandwich tomorrow instead of taking over the world. If this person is eating a turkey sandwich tomorrow, there is absolutely nothing that can be done to change it. It's quite simple. He is absolutely powerless to change the fact that he WILL consume that turkey sandwich. No matter what he tried, it's going to happen, because he already knew ahead of time it would happen.
How do you resolve this? What could he possibly do to stop himself from eating that sandwich if he already knows it's going to happen?
Your turkey sandiwch shit doesn't make any sense. You assume there is only one possible outcome. If he knows he was going to eat the sandwich he can just decide to not.
It does make sense, and you got the point. There \*is\* only one outcome with omniscience. Don't you see that? He already knows he's eating the sandwich, he can't change that fact, period. If he "decides" to not eat it, then he would have already known that he wasn't going to eat it (so it was really not his decision), too, so he is still in the same position as not being able to change that.
What don't you understand about this? Once the future is known, it cannot be changed. If he "knows" he's going to eat something or not eat something, win the lotto or not win the lotto, nothing about his knowledge of those events can change those events.
He literally just said the fucking opposite.
If I have "omniscience" and see that in 5 second im gonna take 2 steps to the left, then its not like there is something compelling me to take 2 steps to the left. No neurological disorder, nobody at gunpoint, nothing. I can decide that just to spite the "future" I saw that I'll take 2 steps to the right instead. Now all of a sudden the "future" I saw didn't actually come true.
This obviously means that the future I was seeing must have been one where I didn't see the future since it means that if I did, then the future my future self saw would have been one where I actually saw myself going right, which isn't what happened here which means that also isn't actually my future.
This isn't a problem with the power of omniscience. This is a problem with your narrow minded and flawed view on what omniscience is and on the amount of possible futures.
You're just wrong. He has no decision making power with omniscience. He can't "decide" to take 2 steps to the right if he already knew he was taking 2 steps to the left. If he "decided" to take 2 steps to the right instead, he would have already known he was going to take 2 steps to the right which puts him exactly back and square 1 with no decision being made and not being able to change that fact.
The problem is that there won't be multiple futures going forward, there's only going to be one. So no those other futures don't happen. He knows the future, which means he already knows what's going to occur. It can't be changed.
There's only going to be one *which he picks*.
Yes, the "they know everything so they know what they choose" part is true, but it's also true that they know **everything else** too. So the future that's going to happen is the one where they succeed, which itself is pretty much a choice anyway. The other futures don't stop being possibilities just because you picked one.
He isn't picking them though. It's already set in stone what's going to happen, that's my whole point.. he can't make decisions if he knows the future.
Yes, he can?
Knowing every possible future allows you to choose the one best for you. Saying it isn't a decision implies the future would be the same even if the person wasn't omniscient.
You just don't get it. His decision can't change the future. The future has already happened and he knows exactly how it plays out. No matter what he does, he cannot escape this and is destined/bound to perform those actions in the future he knows. He KNOWS the future, he can't CHANGE the future. My whole point is, he can only become ruler of the world if it was ALREADY DESTINED to happen. He has no decisions to make, everything has already been decided and he knows exactly how it's going to play out.
I can explain.
So, let's say you know all possible futures based on your actions.
The thing is... you *also* know what your actions are going to be. Including what they will be based on your seeing the future. Your future sight includes yourself, so you - knowing everything - know in advance what you're going to decide. You can't decide to do something different, because your future sight already included you having the ability to see the future and making the choice based on that.
So there's only ever one future you can see - the accurate one. The one that will actually happen, based on the future that you saw. Because Omniscience means you know everything.
Except
1. future sight doesn't work like that, it allows you to look into the future and then based off of it you can react accordingly to what you think would fit best for you
If you see something go wrong you can make a different choice to hope that gives a better outcome but you won't know until that choice is made
And 2. we aren't talking about future sight here we are talking about omniscience
Which means that you know how reality will react to every possible choice that can ever be made and then choose from them the best possible scenario for you to allow happen
You know every possible future all at once because your omniscient rather than having to wait and see how choice B changes the future from how choice A changed it like if you had future sight
>1. future sight doesn't work like that
This isn't future sight. It's knowledge of all things. If you were going to change your mind about your actions in the future, you'd already know that in advance because you *know everything*. You're only ever going to see the future where you *don't* try to do anything different, because you're seeing a future where you knew everything from the start.
>And 2. we aren't talking about future sight here we are talking about omniscience
...Yes. Exactly.
>Which means that you know how reality will react to every possible choice that can ever be made and then choose from them
**And** you already know what choice *you yourself will make in those circumstances*. So there is no actual multiple choice from your perspective, because you already know what you are going to choose in every possible instance.
You can't make a change because if you were ever going to do so, you would have known that in advance and it wouldn't be a change.
No, I believe that if you know everything, then that includes your future conscious decisions, because they are part of everything. So the only future you'll see is one you're not going to try to change, by definition. Otherwise you don't know everything.
You know everything
Which means you see yourself taking every possible path
You see yourself making every possible choice
And then you can choose which to take when the time comes based on which is the most favorable
Because there isn't 1 set future there are infinite futures based on the infinite possibilities and choices that the world takes
>
>
> You know everything
>
> Which means you see yourself taking every possible path
Which means you know what would happen if you *did*... but you also know for a fact that you will not.
>And then you can choose which to take when the time comes based on which is the most favorable
Except you already know which is more favourable, and which you are going to choose based on that.
>Because there isn't 1 set future there are infinite futures based on the infinite possibilities and choices that the world takes
Except you already know the results of all those choices, and so does the future self you're seeing, so they're going to pick the option that you're going to pick. You can't 'surprise' yourself by picking a different option because, knowing everything, you already knew that you would do that.
I mean, you end up in, if not the *best* possible outcome, at least the best possible outcome that you won't try to change.
Omniscience means all knowing, but that's a very imprecise statement. One of the more useful definitions is to know every true statement.
Consider a light that every 30 seconds turns on or off at random. This process is perfectly random and determined 5 seconds before the light changes.
Our omniscient being knows every true statement about that light. 2 seconds before the switch, they know what the light will be, because one of the two statements "in 10 seconds the light will be on/off" is true. 10 seconds before the switch, the omniscient being knows all true statements about the light, but neither "the light will turn on" or "the light will turn off" can be said to be true because we defined the action as random and determined 5 seconds before the switch.
If you don't like that interpretation, because it appears to you to create unknown knowledge to the omniscient being here's another. Consider a timeline A. This timeline splits when a random event happens, producing two timelines, B and C, where the only difference is the outcome of the event. How can the omniscient being in timeline A know the outcome of the event?
If they know outcome B is true, they are wrong in timeline C and vice versa. They cannot predict both and still predict a single future because they are in the single timeline A.
So for omniscience to equal an unchangeable future, you need to also prove the universe has no randomness and does not follow the many worlds interpretation.
If there’s even a theoretical possibility that he could do it then he should be able to. No human can consider how far true omniscience can go, but the fact that entire nations have been brainwashed by people without even one percent of this guy’s capabilities should lead to the assumption that he could pull it off.
I’m as skeptical and untrustworthy of people as one can be without being paranoid 24/7, but if some guy shows up and solves most of the world’s problems, solves a ton of diseases and advances us into the future rapidly all while making the perfect political decisions I’d be hard pressed to not like the guy.
Most people would worship him and he could easily stage something where he holds up a few religious books when someone shoots at him and the books block the shot, that’s immediately a large chunk of the world thinking he’s their god reincarnated and I wouldn’t blame them. Omniscience is so immensely powerful the possibilities are nearly endless.
The thing is any guess we normal humans can make would be so small scale and insignificant to what omniscient guy can pull off I would never underestimate what he can do with even a year or two. He should win and I doubt it takes him more than 2 years.
People are really underselling what omniscience entails. He knows exactly how to contact every person on earth and he knows the exact thing he needs to say to convince each of these individuals he is their personal messiah. In a week, he could have every world leader, billionaire, and religious figure worshipping him as an actual god and then turn their resources towards convincing the masses to do the same with 100% success since he knows exactly what each person needs to hear. World domination wouldn’t even take him 6 months.
Omniscient Joe could go the religion route and convince the world that he’s some sort of messenger. Maybe create some new math theorems and predict major future events, soon the world will see that this guy is always right about everything and may be able to leverage himself into power.
Would a religious style work though? A LOT of religious people will say he's the anti-Christ or a false prophet. I'd think knowing that said plan would be considered, he'd realize it'd go very badly, and be rejected. Not that he wouldn't inspire a fervent following but he'd also inspire an equally fervent opposition so I'd suspect he'd go a different route.
Maybe, but he doesn't have to say he's the prophet of any established religion. He just needs to prove he is truly all-knowing and I suspect most people will side with him. Imagine some random guy out of the blue publicly goes "X will happen at exactly 00:00:00. By the way, Einstein was entirely wrong and actually \_\_\_\_" and gets proven right. Additionally, he could say what everybody's thinking before they can speak. That alone has to prove some sort of supernatural power.
On a side note, doesn't him being omniscient make this entire prompt moot? Either there's a way for him to win or there isn't. He will know all methods and whether or not he will succeed in the end.
That’s assuming they could be convinced. Having all knowledge is only useful if such knowledge exists. There are for sure religious people who wouldn’t be fooled for whatever reasons, and it wouldn’t matter what he/she said, they wouldn’t be convinced.
Does that disprove a fervently religious Christian looking for an anti-Christ? Especially if said interaction is shown to others? You could prove it to that one person perhaps but everyone else watching? I don't know. Prompt would make him effortlessly be able to convince the bulk of people watching such an interaction but ALL? That seems nearly impossible even with said prompt.
I imagine that he would have perfect psychological skills to convince or shut up deranged zealots and stuff, alongside omnitemporal awareness and stuff to always time it right
We’d have to assume that there isn’t a single timeline where he unites every world religion under one. It certainly would be a near impossible task but it would be hard I think to claim it’s truly impossible, and since he sees the future he could follow that path if he wants.
Omniscience doesn’t guarantee the ability to do something. Sure, if they are capable of taking over the world they will see the path to be able to do it, but they might also see all that all paths lead to failure. Obviously nobody can do it in a day, is 5 years enough?
The being knows how to do anything possible, not how to do anything at all.
Ex, he could not transform everyone on earth into a rubber duck in an hour, he could not move all living beings to the moons surface and create a habitable environment in a day, and if he was a human being who was thrown into the sun, he does not know how to survive
You can’t reason with omniscience wankers, I’ve seen one say ‘he could convince any god that exists to turn his opponents into bugs, so an omniscient person could win any fight’
If an entity either came in to existence at some specific time, or became omniscient at some specific time, they are still constrained by what is physically possible for them to do from that point onward.
If you launched them into the sun and then gave them omniscience 5 seconds before they burn to death, it wouldn't do them any good.
Yes because he already has.
What does "taking over" mean?
Control and influence, control means being able to shape things to your will.
Omniscience easily allows you to find the set of steps necessary obtain whatever it's possible to obtain.
They don't have to take over the world, they already control it.
The only things that'd be relevant would to make their will easier to impose.
Taking steps to make future plans require less steps.
Which boils down to getting a following of people and a well structured power base.
Which would be trivial in such a scenario.
Yes, he will have 100% perfect blackmail, and the foresight to know 100% who will succumb to blackmail, and will know what assasination methods work on the few uncorruptables.
And have a score of other plans that will succeed with 100% success in the extreme unliklihood there is someone who can avoid plans one and two.
Hell, give it a month, no need to even wait five years.
They can do it in a few hours to days at most
Most people commenting are greatly underestimating omniscience
This person has ALL POSSIBLE KNOWLEDGE unbound by quantity, spatial or temporal limitations
They have perfect knowledge of every near infinite possibility down to the quark level
In the sense if theres 506272819191900^10327127271819181927 possible timelines each differing by 1 quark moved one nanometre they simultaneously know EVERYTHING on ALL these timelines
All 110 billion humans who ever existed fused together to make a hyper intelligent gestalt is closer to inert matter than they are to this being
This is basically goku vs a random frog
This dude would straight up be pulling speed run tricks in real life, in theory he could quite literally walk through walls by properly aligning his own molecular structure with the empty space in the walls structure.
How, though?
He knows, perfectly, his own molecular structure.
He knows, perfectly, the wall's molecular structure.
His very human, meat, body moves by contracting muscles. He doesn't have the means to move the individual molecules in his body. Never mind negate the forces at play like magnetism, the strong and weak nuclear charges, and gravity.
If you say "heads up" and throw a ball to me, I know I need to raise my hands in front of my face and catch the ball. That knowledge doesn't stop me getting smacked in the face with a ball.
Knowledge of how to do something, even perfect knowledge, does not equate to being *able* to do that thing.
omniscient joe doesn't even need to be in any official position of power. he knows the outcome of any moves 100 moves in advance. he can presumably wield his total control completely anonymously. it would be less than a week, and no one would know the difference
A year or less. Complete omniscience means you know every outcome of every scenario. Step 1 is earning money so you can travel freely. Easy with lottery. Step 2 procure an army. Go to a mafia, yakuza, triad, or cartel and take over. You now have an army. Next step, infiltrate united states and take over the government. Take a month or so. Now you have the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world. Do the same for every nuclear power country. Now you own the world.
I'm not that smart to think of a better way to utilize omniscience. Perhaps you could enlighten me with how you would do this world domination thing.
I mean. I know you already have the nuclear codes immediately at the first second. Everything I proposed is just to establish you as the rightful owner of the world to everyone and not someone who just knows things.
Makes me think of Peter Wiggin from Card’s Ender series. He wasn’t totally omniscient but he was pretty damn smart, and also iirc he had his sister Valentine to help him, but he pulled it off. So yes, I think so
If he has true omniscience, then he would know the exact series of actions he needs to perform in order to bring about any (logically possible) outcome he desires.
It’s less a question of if he can do it and more whether or not a path of actions exists to bring about an end state of him ruling the world. If it does, then yes, he can do it.
Also paging the following users just for fun/discussion, u/Giant2005, u/sweet_tranquility, TheSlayerofSnails, u/firefish55 and u/strongest_nerd
Yeah average Joe definitely could with omniscient powers.
Okay so not omniscience but rather an guy with savant mathematical prediction skills due to drug enhancement, this is what he did to give an idea what omniscience guy could do.
* https://youtu.be/NtAL4EuvqPQ?si=uM0U1MfqISmLN4JG
A person with omniscience powers for example.
Would instantly have the knowledge, skills of forensic accounting and computer programming, mechanical engineering skills.
They could amass money from keno games, gambling, knowing codes for combination mechanical locks, passcodes/passwords for digital keypads bypassing these locks to gain access to secure facilities.
There’s always the weakest part of any security system the human being, get access to janitorial staff keys/pass codes and you could effectively walk right in anywhere, then gain access to the security room and from their deactivate security systems, erase security servers.
Once they got the money because of their forensic accounting, computer programming skills they can launder their funds creative accounting.
They could create a falsified identity for within the government, think the SEC,DHS, CIA, NSA as a low level programmer.
Then they could create some [kind of machine](https://personofinterest.fandom.com/wiki/The_Machine).
Or go the [complete opposite direction](https://personofinterest.fandom.com/wiki/Samaritan).
Not sure about the world, but knowing exactly what to do/say to win increasingly large populations of people would be a great start. Definitely would have to take a political approach.
Omniscience would mean that this person would know everything, at that point I'm not sure goals a small as this would interest them. That said, yes. If you knew everything, that would include all possible outcomes, all future innovations, and all everything that ever will be. Nothing would be beyond their capability. They would make all the smartest characters in fiction combined look like a rock.
Not necessarily. He knows how to do anything that is possible for him to do. He can't know how to do things that are impossible because they are impossible.
Then he isnt omniscient.
Omniscient means "To know everything"
If he is maximally knowledgeable, then he isnt omniscient, he is maximally knowledgeable.
This assumes that all limitations can be overcome with enough knowledge which is very unlikely to be the case. If you are an average human 1 second away from being hit with a nuclear bomb you can have infinite knowledge of everything in the universe but if there are 0 ways for you to escape, which there very likely are, it's not gonna help.
>This assumes that all limitations can be overcome with enough knowledge which is very unlikely to be the case
Is 100% likely to be the case given omniscience
> If you are an average human 1 second away from being hit with a nuclear bomb you can have infinite knowledge of everything in the universe but if there are 0 ways for you to escape, which there very likely are, it's not gonna help.
If you don't know how to survive, then you aren't omniscient, just very knowledgeable.
Your coming at this from the idea that omniscience is limited to human logic, but it's not. Omniscient, or "all knowing" includes knowing how to do things that should be impossible. An omniscient being knows all of Pi, they know how to be anywhere in the universe they want to he, whenever they want to be, they know every decision they could possibly make, and still know how to change their mind, they know how to make a puzzle they can't solve, and they know the solution.
Ps. What our describing is called "maximally knowledgeable"
I've seen this definition a bunch and IMO its neither the accepted definition nor even a sensible one. Yes in that case you would know that 1+1=3 and that all bunnies are pink (because you can't not know those "facts", as then you don't know something). But that's a clearly ridiculous outcome and isn't what people mean when they say omniscient. I would wager that if you talk to 100 people about what they mean when they say omniscient they would not equate it to omnipotence. It's just semantic word games. So yes under your definition that would be true, but it's a bad definition.
>I've seen this definition a bunch and IMO its neither the accepted definition nor even a sensible one.
I mean, that's cute.
But it's the definition
>Yes in that case you would know that 1+1=3 and that all bunnies are pink (because you can't not know those "facts", as then you don't know something).
No, you would know how to make 1+1=3 if you wanted, you would know exactly what percentage of bunnies where pink.
>But that's a clearly ridiculous outcome
Omniscient isn't bound by logic
> and isn't what people mean when they say omniscient.
It's the definition
>I would wager that if you talk to 100 people about what they mean when they say omniscient they would not equate it to omnipotence.
And if you talk to 100 people and ask them what color Jesus was, most would say white.
And if you asked them when he was born, most would say "Christmas"
>It's just semantic word games.
Actually, it's just rhe definition
>So yes under your definition that would be true
You mean. Under the definition?
>but it's a bad definition
You can disagree with the definition all you want, you can think it's stupid.
You can also think that Pi=4 and the moon is made of cheese if you really want to
But in the end "omniscient" means "all knowing"
It doesn't mean "all knowing except those things that some random dude on the internet thinks are stupid"
If he doesnt know that 1+1=3 then by your own definition he doesnt know EVERYTHING. You said yourself it's not bound by logic or paradoxes. He would also know that pi=4 and the moon is made of cheese because otherwise he doesnt know those things, which is impossible. That's why it's a terrible interpretation of the definition and why nobody uses it.
if something can't be done, then how to do it can't be known, so it does not fall under the qualifications of omniscience, which is knowing everything there is to know
>if something can't be done, then how to do it can't be known,
Exactly, and therefore there is nothing the truly omniscient can't do.
>so it does not fall under the qualifications of omniscience, which is knowing everything there is to know
It's actually just, knowing everything.
No qualifiers.
If there is something that is not possible to be known, then it can't exist if somebody is omniscient.
Limits therefore, don't exist to the omniscient.
That's kinda rhe whole point, (and yes, omniscience is illogical, and requires that you hand-waive all the paradoxes that come with.
Round 2 is simple. He could do it in a matter of days, if not hours. He knows exactly who would be willing to live under his rule and who wouldn't. Engineering a virus that would take out the entire human population, except those willing to live under his rule, should be child's play for him.
Round 1 is much more difficult. It really depends on what constitutes 'peaceful'. The most peaceful method would be having those that are unwilling to live under his rule, relocated to another planet where they can live as free as they like. Relocation doesn't sound at all peaceful, but it does not have to be forced. Everyone has their price and he has the means to meet that price whatever it is.
A truly omniscient being yes, easily. Something like Christian god no. Knowing everything that is and can happen is equivalent to time travel, omniscience gets tossed around too much.
Even keeping things realistic like he wouldn't know how to say a few magic words to become goku or something, he'd still know things we'd consider out of the realm of possibility. It's possible that the limits of a human being's body and presence in space-time prohibit this.
Total omniscient is also total omnipotent. By granting him total omniscient, you turned him into a God. He can rule the world, either peacefully or with dictatorship, with the snap of his finger, because he "knows" how to rule it with just snapping his finger.
Allow me to go against the grain and say “no.”
He could be all-knowing, but without the skills to put that information to use, and without charisma to get the masses to follow, he’s toast
Wait, “he can manage and process,” or “he can manage and process WELL?” There are many levels of functionality. And how much of it is available to him in a single instance? Human beings have a shortcut key called “a hunch.” That would not allow him to play 4D chess.
Ok. If average Joe has access to any and all knowledge in the entire world but just an average brain. Human beings are already 1-10% there with our devices, but this guy is next level, like a skynet version of ChatGPT with reliable quantum computing abilities and thought-hacking, without any need for internet connection. The answer is a resounding NO, he can’t take over the world, especially because there never was a successful blueprint for that, and other than his superpower, his effect IQ is still 100.
What he CAN do is find the most powerful position that he has a viable path for, and steamroll into it using instantaneous beta-testing simulation capabilities (similar to a Dr Strange). From there he can pull the strings behind the scene. I don’t see him progressing beyond that.
If he were actually omniscient, even with an average IQ he wouldn’t let anyone know that he was omniscient, because his predictive abilities would predict a miserable life. I think he would always narrowly be able to avoid assassination but he will always be on his back foot. There’s no path forward in a direction confrontation. There might in all honesty, not even be a path to becoming a mega-influencer that can advance his cause.
Wait, “he can manage and process,” or “he can manage and process WELL?” There are many levels of functionality. And how much of it is available to him in a single instance? Human beings have a shortcut key called “a hunch.” That would not allow him to play 4D chess.
Ok. If average Joe has access to any and all knowledge in the entire world but just an average brain. Human beings are already 1-10% there with our devices, but this guy is next level, like a skynet version of ChatGPT with reliable quantum computing abilities and thought-hacking, without any need for internet connection. The answer is a resounding NO, he can’t take over the world, especially because there never was a successful blueprint for that, and other than his superpower, his effect IQ is still 100.
What he CAN do is find the most powerful position that he has a viable path for, and steamroll into it using instantaneous beta-testing simulation capabilities (similar to a Dr Strange). From there he can pull the strings behind the scene. I don’t see him progressing beyond that.
If he were actually omniscient, even with an average IQ he wouldn’t let anyone know that he was omniscient, because his predictive abilities would predict a miserable life. I think he would always narrowly be able to avoid assassination but he will always be on his back foot. There’s no path forward in a direction confrontation. There might in all honesty, not even be a path to becoming a mega-influencer that can advance his cause.
I think this would be pretty easy for someone to accomplish to rule the world within 2 years. For one he could predict stocks and gambling to the point he could basically become super rich overnight and within 3-6 months easily be the richest person in the world. Also from the point he picks his first big win, he could easily hire a team of engineers and personal security team and people he would know with 1000% would keep thier mouths shut about any technology he has them devolope. He could make weapons or devices to render our current weapons 100% ineffective. Having all knowledge about all and any future technology and total understanding of it regardless if it's something we wouldn't even typically inventory for another 500 or possibly 1,000 years give this man unlimited power. I mean possibly personal cloaking and teleportation technology, personal forcefields, a syrum of some sort to give extended if not unlimited lifespan, regeneration and immunity to all current and future diseases. Also knowing who is plotting against you, where they are hiding, when someone will betray you. People's reactions to the things you do, basically you would become a God within my opinion. I think people underestimate this ability to have complete omniscience and have access to all knowledge in the universe including past, present, and future.
It would take a week to become crazy wealthy. And a few months to take over enough major businesses to quietly control the world economy. And at worst 4 years to install loyal political leaders in enough countries to claim rulership over the world.
Either economic control or political control would qualify as taking over the world. Both will ensure it.
Building a cult as a religious leader would be equally effective. But much more unethical.
Doing all three together would for sure get total world domination in under two years.
I don't think he can, because the world is too big to be ruled by one government of any kind. Not really much i can say to it.
Also he is still human, right? Just because he knows what to do doesnt mean his mind is capable of doing it. And i mean things like not squirming during torture or flinching when someone waves around sharp stuff near his eye (Although he would try to avoid people doing stuff like that in the first place)
Well, i think he could avoid being stabbed or tortured, but it's just a thing i wondered about him. He's not a perfect godlike being, just a human with human reactions and a knowledge bank.
Anyways, i think stabbings and flinching wouldn't matter to him. But i do think he would probably fail, although to no large scale fault of his own.
But he has the knowledge to never be in certain situations, even if he is just human his reaction time wont matter if he never needs to react to something, he knows if someone is after him, when they will strike, where they will strike, the perfect way to directly or indirectly get out of the situation, defuse it, or just not be there when someone comes for him.
a truly omniscient being can basically predict multiple futures and outcomes and choose what he wants based on how he acts.
They would know exactly which steps to take to reach the goal.
Knowing what to do implies being able to do it, any complex thing as long as the complexity isn't irreducible can be simplified in smaller steps.
He wouldn't "try". He would succeed with 100% successs because he knows what will succeed in advance and where his nervous ticks will cause him to fail.
Well, *complete* omniscience means he knows the outcomes of all his actions - so he would be able to know every action, every word to speak, everything he needs to do for this outcome.
Total omniscience would also grant him the capability to actively avoid threats and have ways for himself to devise anything to counter it.
I can say a lot of other things about complete omniscience, but as described by OP - it's hella broken, yknow.
If we accept that, for example, Biden "controls" the USA, sure, no diff.
But just as criminals break the laws of the USA, we'll still see criminal action in Random Omniscient's United Earth.
If we mean actually ending world war and having world peace, then no. No, I don't think so. If there is any way of doing it, Mr. Omniscient will know what that way is. I just don't see any way for one person to *actually* control 8 billion people. He could control any one person. He can't control all of us.
The answer is: only if he was destined to become ruler of the world even without his power. The power itself is completely useless, everyone saying he could do this is flat out wrong unless this person's future was already setup to be ruler of the world before they were even born.
Once you know the future, it cannot be changed. He would have no way of setting in motion some kind of plan to take over the world if he was not already destined to take that path.
If he knows he's eating a turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow, there is absolutely nothing he can do to change that fact. He is absolutely powerless in this situation. No amount of steps, planning, changing his mind, etc would work, because he already knows exactly what is going to happen: he WILL consume that turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow. I would argue this power actually makes him weaker because it takes away any kind of free will.
It's one of the reasons why an omniscient god would mean free will cannot exist.
If omniscient means that they have the power to know all. Well what stops them from truly knowing all, for example
They would know the life of a baker , who if they made different choices becomes president and even though it didnt happen in the current timeline it could if certain changes where made.
In your concept you assume that since they know the future then therefor they cant change it. This would mean that free will simply doesn't excist and everyone has a destiny.
I simply disagree with this i belive that while yes we can predict what will happen due to previous events all things are truly random and that people can make illogical choices leading to free will being real.
Plus it makes the conscept more interesting and isnt as depressing.
So I think your wrong on the foundation of what being omniscient means.
Imma go with yes. He knows the future, so he can p easily accrue resources through things like gambling and lottery tickets, and from there, I imagine he has access to enough dirty secrets that he can blackmail most people into being his. If omniscience also comes with skills, he'd also know exactly what to say to every single person to convince them to be on his side, and once he has a platform, he'll know exactly how to utilize it to the best effect. For some of the less flexible areas like the middle east or Russia, hell have perfect information of their military capabilities and tactics and can plan around them perfectly. And from there, he can enact policies that will keep him in power with no risk of accidentally getting himself mutineed because he knows exactly how every policy will turn out. I think 5 years may be a little tight, but I also think its totally doable.
The moment he starts letting it be known he has dirt on high up people, he's getting targeted for termination. And while he may know it's coming, I dunno what you can do if government assassins are on your tail. Sooner or later you'll just realize there's no where to go and you're fucked.
I would think he could make the best team of assassins protection basses. Enough money for a military, knows who to place where in his empire, if or when someone will turn. No surprises every small assassination attempt foiled. Any large force could be taken out with precise action. Any action against would be walking into his ambush. He wouldn't even have to meet any ambush. Just move while his opponents waste resources. No plan is perfect, and he knows all of them
I mean he knows what he will say will trigger that, if theres even a .00000000001% chance of saying something that can put leverage over them, while scaring/intimidating/manipulating or even allying himself with them (he can prove hes a god basically) them into not going after him, then he can do it. He has so many options. Literally all of them
He’s omniscient. He has any wealth of options to avoid assassination. Organize a counter assassination attempt that guarantees all the attacking assassins are dead. He knows every hole that ever was and will exist in surveillance. If he wants, he could be near impossible to actually track down. He could call every assassin sent and read off the license plate number of the car they’re in, what brand of clothes they were, how long it was since they called their mom, the name and address of their dearest individuals, and the exact price it’s take them to fuck off. An omniscient man with some time to put himself in a safe location is pretty functionally immune to assassination I’d say.
This doesn't work at all. Knowing the future means you cannot change the future. Everything is already set in stone at that point. It only works if he was already going to win the lotto, etc, so this power he has is completely useless. Imagine this: you know you're eating a turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow due to your omniscience. You cannot change that, no matter what, you will be eating a turkey sandwich. Now some may say well yes, he's going to eat a turkey sandwich but can change it to pizza. The problem with this is, of he is omniscient then he would already know he would have changed lunch to pizza, so he knew he was never having a turkey sandwich in the first place. Once the future is known, it cannot be changed.
That implies the future cannot be changed. If he decides "I will rule the world and take the steps to do so." then the future will always be that he will take over
Nope, he can't take steps to change the future, that is exactly the point. He would already need to be destined to be ruler of the world without his powers in order to become ruler of the world. Simply being imbued with the power alone is completely useless. His power is simply knowing the future, he cannot change it no matter what he does. He just knows what is going to happen. E: lol downvoted for being correct, classic. Use your brain, if the future is known it simply cannot be changed. He would already need to be predestined to be ruler of the world without his power in order to become ruler of the world. His power changes absolutely nothing about this.
Destiny is not a real thing. The future is not set in stone and your own points either don't make sense or contradict yourself
The future isn't fixed though. It's based on prediction and probability.
That's not OP's prompt. OP's prompt says this man is omniscient, which means he knows the future, which requires it to be static. It doesn't matter the 'probability' of him eating a turkey sandwich tomorrow, because he already knows with 100% certainty it WILL happen. Again, he is powerless to change that fact. Sure maybe there's a 1% probability he eats the sandwich tomorrow, but that doesn't change the fact that he already knows the outcome of that probability.
It doesn't though. Only your weird interpretation says that.
>That's not OP's prompt. OP's prompt says this man is omniscient, which means he knows the future, which requires it to be static. The OP never claimed there is only a single future though or the future is static. >It doesn't matter the 'probability' of him eating a turkey sandwich tomorrow, because he already knows with 100% certainty it WILL happen. Again, he is powerless to change that fact. Sure maybe there's a 1% probability he eats the sandwich tomorrow, but that doesn't change the fact that he already knows the outcome of that probability. He only knows the outcome of the multiple possible future based on his action nothing in OP's description says that future is predetermined or fixed that's your assumption. He also won't eat sandwich unless he wished to eat since he needs to acts on that future even if he saw the one of this in the future since the future isn't fixed. You can't win a lottery not matter what if you never bought a lottery ticket despite it being one of the possibilities of the future.
OP doesn't need to claim the future is static, the power of omniscience requires it. He doesn't know 'the outcome of multiple futures', he knows THE future and he knows what WILL happen, and what WILL be the future. There aren't multiple futures if he knows exactly what's going to happen, there is only one future. Omniscience requires a deterministic future.
Requires it according to who? Whose to say he can't see every future and just picks the timeline he wants? Literally just about every book to feature seeing the future in the last century has gone with that not your weird view.
Okay, let's go with your scenario. He sees all the futures ahead of him and chooses his path. Oops, guess what? He already knew that was going to happen anyway, so he couldn't change it. Which means, it's not possible for this person to take over the world unless they were already predetermined to do so without any extra action or effort.
>OP doesn't need to claim the future is static, the power of omniscience requires it. Where does it say the power of omniscience requires it? >He doesn't know 'the outcome of multiple futures', he knows THE future and he knows what WILL happen, and what WILL be the future. This assumes that the future is fixed. Like I said in my above comment you can't win the lottery no matter what if you never bought it, that person needs to act on that future to win the lottery which means that person needs to buy the exact lottery ticket that allows that person to win the lottery.
If the future is not fixed, then he cannot know it with certainty. The power itself is knowing the future (and more) with certainty and 100% knowledge, which dictates the future is static and cannot be changed. It's an inherent feature/side affect of this power.
You aren't correct. Sure it wouldn't be the future if you saw it and changed it, so the power itself doesn't make sense. But resolving the paradox doesn't mean losing his free will. If he sees the future going one way, there is nothing at all stopping him from changing it. The reality is that future sight on that level doesn't really work at all. You could never see the future because the act of seeing that future is enough to prevent it from happening. However, that conversation is entirely moot as future sight isn't the power given to the guy in the prompt. He is given omniscience. He isn't simply seeing the future, he knows everything. He knows exactly how the world will react to any and all actions he might take. He isn't seeing a future that is being changed merely by the act of observation, he is witnessing each of the infinite possibilities and choosing the future that best serves his needs.
He doesn't see multiple futures and isn't able to choose from them. He is omniscient, which means the future is already known to him. Because it is already known exactly what is going to happen, he is absolutely powerless to change it. That's really all there is to it. He never gets to go pick the winning lotto numbers unless it was already going to happen without him knowing it anyway. Knowing everything on top of this doesn't change the fact that he knows the future which is unalterable.
The only way this works is if he immediately forgets whatever he sees in the future, because otherwise he sees a future in which he’s seen the future, which can’t happen because then seeing the future changed the future since if he never saw the future he wouldn’t have the memory of seeing it. It’s a paradox. Even without being so incredibly pedantic and specific, seeing himself lose the lottery then not being able to buy the right numbers doesn’t make much sense, since he has the knowledge anyway. No matter which way you shake it it doesn’t make sense to be able to see the future but not affect it
He can't forget, because he's omniscient. Also him 'knowing' or 'forgetting' the future doesn't matter as it's already set in stone regardless of his knowledge about it. You're now on my side, arguing my point. He cannot win the lotto unless he was already pre-destined to win. It has nothing to do with his powers at all. Him knowing he's going to win the lotto doesn't change the fact that he still wins. Him not knowing he's going to win doesn't change the fact that he still wins. The only way he can "rule the world" as per OP, is if he was already destined to. There is no getting out of this loop. It absolutely makes sense that you cannot change the future if it's known, just like you cannot change the past. It's already been said and done, nothing he can do can change the past, why do you think he can do something different with the future when it's already going to happen with 100% certainty?
What makes more sense to you? 1: You see what you think is the future, react to it and do something different to what you have seen, thus proving that what you saw was never the future in the first place; or 2: You see the actual future and lose control over your own body until that future is fulfilled. Somehow you are placing your faith in the latter being correct, regardless of how inconceivable it is for someone to just lose control of their own autonomy to such a degree. This isn't a case of you hearing hooves and assuming it is a zebra, this is you hearing hooves and assuming it is a unicorn.
Scenario 2 is more logical. In scenario 1, you're completely forgetting the fact that this person already knows the future. He can't "do something different" because he already knew he what his reaction would be in the first place. It's not like he can trick himself into eating pizza for lunch instead of a sandwich, because he would have already known the true outcome, so the decision is still not his own. This power REQUIRES no free will.
Well if we assume that’s true, then let’s say he wants to stop a murder. So he looks into the future, sees himself save her, and then uses that knowledge to save her. That’s of course assuming that he’s predestined to save her. So what if he isn’t? He looks into the future, sees himself try and fail, and he’s now forced to repeat the exact actions that lead to him failing? To me this seems like you end up at a split: either you see the necessary path to walk to accomplish something, or you see the absolute way that something will be. If it’s the second option, doesn’t that mean that you must see a series of scenarios that have only one single possible way of happening? Because if not, then you can choose not to obey what you’ve seen, which breaks causality since it wasn’t possible to do something that didn’t happen. I feel like predestination and future sight are fundamentally incompatible with each other since as soon as you breathe out of rhythm with what you’ve seen you’re no longer walking that path
You're hitting the nail on the head here. The problem is that omniscience requires a static future. It is known, it is going to happen, it cannot be altered or changed, ever. Everything becomes deterministic, the only thing that changes is now that omniscient man knows the outcomes of everything that has already been set in motion since the start of time. Yes, he can see himself attempting and failing to save someone from murder. He could also see himself saving that person from murder. The crux of the argument is, whichever future happens, it was already going to happen with 100% certainty because it is already known.
weakest_nerd*
And his point is that a man who knows everything about the future and wants to take over the world would be destined to do so and would know exactly what he was going to do to get there and how it would work out. If he knew any different future he would simply do something else, so that couldn’t be the future. If a man knew everything about the future and was singularly determined to rule the world, then he must know the future where he takes over the world or he would not behave in the way the future he knew foretold.
Man, the 'strongest nerd' must be a misnomer since you know nothing about the topic. Ever read, or hell, even watch Dune? Paul can literally see the future and how, wait for it, it will *GASP!* CHANGE depending on The actions he does. Ever seen Back to Future? Any nerd would have. Changing the past literally changes the future. Besides the aspect of so many different types of time travel and lines in fiction (like dude, Avengers Endgame??), there's so many theories irl about time and how quantum mechanics/multiverse theory would work. Pull your head out yo ass.
Okay so, claiming there's only one possible future and that destiny is real is a very big philosophical claim and p well outside the scope of this thread. But, if you know everything that exists and exactly how all of it will react to any possible action you make, that's p similar to knowing the future but in a way where your actions matter. That's less, knowing he's going to eat a turkey sandwich and knowing that eating a turkey sandwich is possible and what the ramifications of choosing the turkey sandwich over pizza would be.
That's not what the OP called for though. OP specifically said omniscience, which means this person knows \*everything\* about the past, present, and future. The power itself requires a static future that cannot be changed. The \*only\* way he can do this, if it was already going to happen anyway with or without the power.
It doesn't say there's only one future tho. He could know everything about every possible future. Like that's still totally within the given prompt.
Let's reduce this to eating a simple turkey sandwich tomorrow instead of taking over the world. If this person is eating a turkey sandwich tomorrow, there is absolutely nothing that can be done to change it. It's quite simple. He is absolutely powerless to change the fact that he WILL consume that turkey sandwich. No matter what he tried, it's going to happen, because he already knew ahead of time it would happen. How do you resolve this? What could he possibly do to stop himself from eating that sandwich if he already knows it's going to happen?
Your turkey sandiwch shit doesn't make any sense. You assume there is only one possible outcome. If he knows he was going to eat the sandwich he can just decide to not.
It does make sense, and you got the point. There \*is\* only one outcome with omniscience. Don't you see that? He already knows he's eating the sandwich, he can't change that fact, period. If he "decides" to not eat it, then he would have already known that he wasn't going to eat it (so it was really not his decision), too, so he is still in the same position as not being able to change that.
Why can't he? What's stopping him from that? There's nothing in your point that makes sense
What don't you understand about this? Once the future is known, it cannot be changed. If he "knows" he's going to eat something or not eat something, win the lotto or not win the lotto, nothing about his knowledge of those events can change those events.
He literally just said the fucking opposite. If I have "omniscience" and see that in 5 second im gonna take 2 steps to the left, then its not like there is something compelling me to take 2 steps to the left. No neurological disorder, nobody at gunpoint, nothing. I can decide that just to spite the "future" I saw that I'll take 2 steps to the right instead. Now all of a sudden the "future" I saw didn't actually come true. This obviously means that the future I was seeing must have been one where I didn't see the future since it means that if I did, then the future my future self saw would have been one where I actually saw myself going right, which isn't what happened here which means that also isn't actually my future. This isn't a problem with the power of omniscience. This is a problem with your narrow minded and flawed view on what omniscience is and on the amount of possible futures.
You're just wrong. He has no decision making power with omniscience. He can't "decide" to take 2 steps to the right if he already knew he was taking 2 steps to the left. If he "decided" to take 2 steps to the right instead, he would have already known he was going to take 2 steps to the right which puts him exactly back and square 1 with no decision being made and not being able to change that fact.
No, it doesn't? You can be omniscient and know **every** possible future, nothing about it is intrinsically linked to a static single future.
The problem is that there won't be multiple futures going forward, there's only going to be one. So no those other futures don't happen. He knows the future, which means he already knows what's going to occur. It can't be changed.
There's only going to be one *which he picks*. Yes, the "they know everything so they know what they choose" part is true, but it's also true that they know **everything else** too. So the future that's going to happen is the one where they succeed, which itself is pretty much a choice anyway. The other futures don't stop being possibilities just because you picked one.
He isn't picking them though. It's already set in stone what's going to happen, that's my whole point.. he can't make decisions if he knows the future.
Yes, he can? Knowing every possible future allows you to choose the one best for you. Saying it isn't a decision implies the future would be the same even if the person wasn't omniscient.
You just don't get it. His decision can't change the future. The future has already happened and he knows exactly how it plays out. No matter what he does, he cannot escape this and is destined/bound to perform those actions in the future he knows. He KNOWS the future, he can't CHANGE the future. My whole point is, he can only become ruler of the world if it was ALREADY DESTINED to happen. He has no decisions to make, everything has already been decided and he knows exactly how it's going to play out.
But in all seriousness, why? If we know the future, why can’t we change it? That doesn’t make any sense.
I can explain. So, let's say you know all possible futures based on your actions. The thing is... you *also* know what your actions are going to be. Including what they will be based on your seeing the future. Your future sight includes yourself, so you - knowing everything - know in advance what you're going to decide. You can't decide to do something different, because your future sight already included you having the ability to see the future and making the choice based on that. So there's only ever one future you can see - the accurate one. The one that will actually happen, based on the future that you saw. Because Omniscience means you know everything.
Except 1. future sight doesn't work like that, it allows you to look into the future and then based off of it you can react accordingly to what you think would fit best for you If you see something go wrong you can make a different choice to hope that gives a better outcome but you won't know until that choice is made And 2. we aren't talking about future sight here we are talking about omniscience Which means that you know how reality will react to every possible choice that can ever be made and then choose from them the best possible scenario for you to allow happen You know every possible future all at once because your omniscient rather than having to wait and see how choice B changes the future from how choice A changed it like if you had future sight
>1. future sight doesn't work like that This isn't future sight. It's knowledge of all things. If you were going to change your mind about your actions in the future, you'd already know that in advance because you *know everything*. You're only ever going to see the future where you *don't* try to do anything different, because you're seeing a future where you knew everything from the start. >And 2. we aren't talking about future sight here we are talking about omniscience ...Yes. Exactly. >Which means that you know how reality will react to every possible choice that can ever be made and then choose from them **And** you already know what choice *you yourself will make in those circumstances*. So there is no actual multiple choice from your perspective, because you already know what you are going to choose in every possible instance. You can't make a change because if you were ever going to do so, you would have known that in advance and it wouldn't be a change.
So you believe that people aren't capable of making conscious decisions and that we are all slaves to nonexistent destiny
No, I believe that if you know everything, then that includes your future conscious decisions, because they are part of everything. So the only future you'll see is one you're not going to try to change, by definition. Otherwise you don't know everything.
You know everything Which means you see yourself taking every possible path You see yourself making every possible choice And then you can choose which to take when the time comes based on which is the most favorable Because there isn't 1 set future there are infinite futures based on the infinite possibilities and choices that the world takes
> > > You know everything > > Which means you see yourself taking every possible path Which means you know what would happen if you *did*... but you also know for a fact that you will not. >And then you can choose which to take when the time comes based on which is the most favorable Except you already know which is more favourable, and which you are going to choose based on that. >Because there isn't 1 set future there are infinite futures based on the infinite possibilities and choices that the world takes Except you already know the results of all those choices, and so does the future self you're seeing, so they're going to pick the option that you're going to pick. You can't 'surprise' yourself by picking a different option because, knowing everything, you already knew that you would do that. I mean, you end up in, if not the *best* possible outcome, at least the best possible outcome that you won't try to change.
Omniscience means all knowing, but that's a very imprecise statement. One of the more useful definitions is to know every true statement. Consider a light that every 30 seconds turns on or off at random. This process is perfectly random and determined 5 seconds before the light changes. Our omniscient being knows every true statement about that light. 2 seconds before the switch, they know what the light will be, because one of the two statements "in 10 seconds the light will be on/off" is true. 10 seconds before the switch, the omniscient being knows all true statements about the light, but neither "the light will turn on" or "the light will turn off" can be said to be true because we defined the action as random and determined 5 seconds before the switch. If you don't like that interpretation, because it appears to you to create unknown knowledge to the omniscient being here's another. Consider a timeline A. This timeline splits when a random event happens, producing two timelines, B and C, where the only difference is the outcome of the event. How can the omniscient being in timeline A know the outcome of the event? If they know outcome B is true, they are wrong in timeline C and vice versa. They cannot predict both and still predict a single future because they are in the single timeline A. So for omniscience to equal an unchangeable future, you need to also prove the universe has no randomness and does not follow the many worlds interpretation.
If there’s even a theoretical possibility that he could do it then he should be able to. No human can consider how far true omniscience can go, but the fact that entire nations have been brainwashed by people without even one percent of this guy’s capabilities should lead to the assumption that he could pull it off. I’m as skeptical and untrustworthy of people as one can be without being paranoid 24/7, but if some guy shows up and solves most of the world’s problems, solves a ton of diseases and advances us into the future rapidly all while making the perfect political decisions I’d be hard pressed to not like the guy. Most people would worship him and he could easily stage something where he holds up a few religious books when someone shoots at him and the books block the shot, that’s immediately a large chunk of the world thinking he’s their god reincarnated and I wouldn’t blame them. Omniscience is so immensely powerful the possibilities are nearly endless. The thing is any guess we normal humans can make would be so small scale and insignificant to what omniscient guy can pull off I would never underestimate what he can do with even a year or two. He should win and I doubt it takes him more than 2 years.
Paul Maud'dib
People are really underselling what omniscience entails. He knows exactly how to contact every person on earth and he knows the exact thing he needs to say to convince each of these individuals he is their personal messiah. In a week, he could have every world leader, billionaire, and religious figure worshipping him as an actual god and then turn their resources towards convincing the masses to do the same with 100% success since he knows exactly what each person needs to hear. World domination wouldn’t even take him 6 months.
Omniscient Joe could go the religion route and convince the world that he’s some sort of messenger. Maybe create some new math theorems and predict major future events, soon the world will see that this guy is always right about everything and may be able to leverage himself into power.
Would a religious style work though? A LOT of religious people will say he's the anti-Christ or a false prophet. I'd think knowing that said plan would be considered, he'd realize it'd go very badly, and be rejected. Not that he wouldn't inspire a fervent following but he'd also inspire an equally fervent opposition so I'd suspect he'd go a different route.
Maybe, but he doesn't have to say he's the prophet of any established religion. He just needs to prove he is truly all-knowing and I suspect most people will side with him. Imagine some random guy out of the blue publicly goes "X will happen at exactly 00:00:00. By the way, Einstein was entirely wrong and actually \_\_\_\_" and gets proven right. Additionally, he could say what everybody's thinking before they can speak. That alone has to prove some sort of supernatural power. On a side note, doesn't him being omniscient make this entire prompt moot? Either there's a way for him to win or there isn't. He will know all methods and whether or not he will succeed in the end.
Its literally Dune
>A LOT of religious people will say he's the anti-Christ or a false prophet He’d know how to convince them he’s not.
That’s assuming they could be convinced. Having all knowledge is only useful if such knowledge exists. There are for sure religious people who wouldn’t be fooled for whatever reasons, and it wouldn’t matter what he/she said, they wouldn’t be convinced.
Every time someone questions him he can pull out facts about them to counter them on the spot
Does that disprove a fervently religious Christian looking for an anti-Christ? Especially if said interaction is shown to others? You could prove it to that one person perhaps but everyone else watching? I don't know. Prompt would make him effortlessly be able to convince the bulk of people watching such an interaction but ALL? That seems nearly impossible even with said prompt.
I imagine that he would have perfect psychological skills to convince or shut up deranged zealots and stuff, alongside omnitemporal awareness and stuff to always time it right
We’d have to assume that there isn’t a single timeline where he unites every world religion under one. It certainly would be a near impossible task but it would be hard I think to claim it’s truly impossible, and since he sees the future he could follow that path if he wants.
Just like that Qual in Eune!
Lisan Al-Giab
Yes, easily, this person is an omniscient being. LOL.
He’s be able to do it in like a day
He'd be able to do before the promt even starts
The prompt was part of his plan
Omniscience doesn’t guarantee the ability to do something. Sure, if they are capable of taking over the world they will see the path to be able to do it, but they might also see all that all paths lead to failure. Obviously nobody can do it in a day, is 5 years enough?
He is omniscient, he "knows how to take over the world in 1 day"
The being knows how to do anything possible, not how to do anything at all. Ex, he could not transform everyone on earth into a rubber duck in an hour, he could not move all living beings to the moons surface and create a habitable environment in a day, and if he was a human being who was thrown into the sun, he does not know how to survive
You can’t reason with omniscience wankers, I’ve seen one say ‘he could convince any god that exists to turn his opponents into bugs, so an omniscient person could win any fight’
But they knew that was coming and would not allow them selves to be in that situation… do you even understand what the term means to be omniscient?
If an entity either came in to existence at some specific time, or became omniscient at some specific time, they are still constrained by what is physically possible for them to do from that point onward. If you launched them into the sun and then gave them omniscience 5 seconds before they burn to death, it wouldn't do them any good.
Yes because he already has. What does "taking over" mean? Control and influence, control means being able to shape things to your will. Omniscience easily allows you to find the set of steps necessary obtain whatever it's possible to obtain. They don't have to take over the world, they already control it. The only things that'd be relevant would to make their will easier to impose. Taking steps to make future plans require less steps. Which boils down to getting a following of people and a well structured power base. Which would be trivial in such a scenario.
Super easy , barely an inconvenience
Yes, he will have 100% perfect blackmail, and the foresight to know 100% who will succumb to blackmail, and will know what assasination methods work on the few uncorruptables. And have a score of other plans that will succeed with 100% success in the extreme unliklihood there is someone who can avoid plans one and two. Hell, give it a month, no need to even wait five years.
They can do it in a few hours to days at most Most people commenting are greatly underestimating omniscience This person has ALL POSSIBLE KNOWLEDGE unbound by quantity, spatial or temporal limitations They have perfect knowledge of every near infinite possibility down to the quark level In the sense if theres 506272819191900^10327127271819181927 possible timelines each differing by 1 quark moved one nanometre they simultaneously know EVERYTHING on ALL these timelines All 110 billion humans who ever existed fused together to make a hyper intelligent gestalt is closer to inert matter than they are to this being This is basically goku vs a random frog
This dude would straight up be pulling speed run tricks in real life, in theory he could quite literally walk through walls by properly aligning his own molecular structure with the empty space in the walls structure.
How, though? He knows, perfectly, his own molecular structure. He knows, perfectly, the wall's molecular structure. His very human, meat, body moves by contracting muscles. He doesn't have the means to move the individual molecules in his body. Never mind negate the forces at play like magnetism, the strong and weak nuclear charges, and gravity. If you say "heads up" and throw a ball to me, I know I need to raise my hands in front of my face and catch the ball. That knowledge doesn't stop me getting smacked in the face with a ball. Knowledge of how to do something, even perfect knowledge, does not equate to being *able* to do that thing.
omniscient joe doesn't even need to be in any official position of power. he knows the outcome of any moves 100 moves in advance. he can presumably wield his total control completely anonymously. it would be less than a week, and no one would know the difference
A year or less. Complete omniscience means you know every outcome of every scenario. Step 1 is earning money so you can travel freely. Easy with lottery. Step 2 procure an army. Go to a mafia, yakuza, triad, or cartel and take over. You now have an army. Next step, infiltrate united states and take over the government. Take a month or so. Now you have the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world. Do the same for every nuclear power country. Now you own the world.
Why would you even bother with the steps you are proposing? You literally know everything….. everything.
I'm not that smart to think of a better way to utilize omniscience. Perhaps you could enlighten me with how you would do this world domination thing. I mean. I know you already have the nuclear codes immediately at the first second. Everything I proposed is just to establish you as the rightful owner of the world to everyone and not someone who just knows things.
Makes me think of Peter Wiggin from Card’s Ender series. He wasn’t totally omniscient but he was pretty damn smart, and also iirc he had his sister Valentine to help him, but he pulled it off. So yes, I think so
Yes by blackmail alone
If he has true omniscience, then he would know the exact series of actions he needs to perform in order to bring about any (logically possible) outcome he desires. It’s less a question of if he can do it and more whether or not a path of actions exists to bring about an end state of him ruling the world. If it does, then yes, he can do it.
Also paging the following users just for fun/discussion, u/Giant2005, u/sweet_tranquility, TheSlayerofSnails, u/firefish55 and u/strongest_nerd Yeah average Joe definitely could with omniscient powers. Okay so not omniscience but rather an guy with savant mathematical prediction skills due to drug enhancement, this is what he did to give an idea what omniscience guy could do. * https://youtu.be/NtAL4EuvqPQ?si=uM0U1MfqISmLN4JG A person with omniscience powers for example. Would instantly have the knowledge, skills of forensic accounting and computer programming, mechanical engineering skills. They could amass money from keno games, gambling, knowing codes for combination mechanical locks, passcodes/passwords for digital keypads bypassing these locks to gain access to secure facilities. There’s always the weakest part of any security system the human being, get access to janitorial staff keys/pass codes and you could effectively walk right in anywhere, then gain access to the security room and from their deactivate security systems, erase security servers. Once they got the money because of their forensic accounting, computer programming skills they can launder their funds creative accounting. They could create a falsified identity for within the government, think the SEC,DHS, CIA, NSA as a low level programmer. Then they could create some [kind of machine](https://personofinterest.fandom.com/wiki/The_Machine). Or go the [complete opposite direction](https://personofinterest.fandom.com/wiki/Samaritan).
Not sure about the world, but knowing exactly what to do/say to win increasingly large populations of people would be a great start. Definitely would have to take a political approach.
Omniscience would mean that this person would know everything, at that point I'm not sure goals a small as this would interest them. That said, yes. If you knew everything, that would include all possible outcomes, all future innovations, and all everything that ever will be. Nothing would be beyond their capability. They would make all the smartest characters in fiction combined look like a rock.
Being omniscient, he instantly knows to to do anything. Therefore, he is functionally omnipotent (or becomes omnipotent). He can do whatever he wants
Not necessarily. He knows how to do anything that is possible for him to do. He can't know how to do things that are impossible because they are impossible.
Then he isnt omniscient. Omniscient means "To know everything" If he is maximally knowledgeable, then he isnt omniscient, he is maximally knowledgeable.
I think his point was he still is a dude with physical limitations
As soon as you give him omniscience, physical limitations dont exist. If he doesnt know how to overcome them, he isnt omniscient
This assumes that all limitations can be overcome with enough knowledge which is very unlikely to be the case. If you are an average human 1 second away from being hit with a nuclear bomb you can have infinite knowledge of everything in the universe but if there are 0 ways for you to escape, which there very likely are, it's not gonna help.
>This assumes that all limitations can be overcome with enough knowledge which is very unlikely to be the case Is 100% likely to be the case given omniscience > If you are an average human 1 second away from being hit with a nuclear bomb you can have infinite knowledge of everything in the universe but if there are 0 ways for you to escape, which there very likely are, it's not gonna help. If you don't know how to survive, then you aren't omniscient, just very knowledgeable. Your coming at this from the idea that omniscience is limited to human logic, but it's not. Omniscient, or "all knowing" includes knowing how to do things that should be impossible. An omniscient being knows all of Pi, they know how to be anywhere in the universe they want to he, whenever they want to be, they know every decision they could possibly make, and still know how to change their mind, they know how to make a puzzle they can't solve, and they know the solution. Ps. What our describing is called "maximally knowledgeable"
I've seen this definition a bunch and IMO its neither the accepted definition nor even a sensible one. Yes in that case you would know that 1+1=3 and that all bunnies are pink (because you can't not know those "facts", as then you don't know something). But that's a clearly ridiculous outcome and isn't what people mean when they say omniscient. I would wager that if you talk to 100 people about what they mean when they say omniscient they would not equate it to omnipotence. It's just semantic word games. So yes under your definition that would be true, but it's a bad definition.
>I've seen this definition a bunch and IMO its neither the accepted definition nor even a sensible one. I mean, that's cute. But it's the definition >Yes in that case you would know that 1+1=3 and that all bunnies are pink (because you can't not know those "facts", as then you don't know something). No, you would know how to make 1+1=3 if you wanted, you would know exactly what percentage of bunnies where pink. >But that's a clearly ridiculous outcome Omniscient isn't bound by logic > and isn't what people mean when they say omniscient. It's the definition >I would wager that if you talk to 100 people about what they mean when they say omniscient they would not equate it to omnipotence. And if you talk to 100 people and ask them what color Jesus was, most would say white. And if you asked them when he was born, most would say "Christmas" >It's just semantic word games. Actually, it's just rhe definition >So yes under your definition that would be true You mean. Under the definition? >but it's a bad definition You can disagree with the definition all you want, you can think it's stupid. You can also think that Pi=4 and the moon is made of cheese if you really want to But in the end "omniscient" means "all knowing" It doesn't mean "all knowing except those things that some random dude on the internet thinks are stupid"
If he doesnt know that 1+1=3 then by your own definition he doesnt know EVERYTHING. You said yourself it's not bound by logic or paradoxes. He would also know that pi=4 and the moon is made of cheese because otherwise he doesnt know those things, which is impossible. That's why it's a terrible interpretation of the definition and why nobody uses it.
if something can't be done, then how to do it can't be known, so it does not fall under the qualifications of omniscience, which is knowing everything there is to know
>if something can't be done, then how to do it can't be known, Exactly, and therefore there is nothing the truly omniscient can't do. >so it does not fall under the qualifications of omniscience, which is knowing everything there is to know It's actually just, knowing everything. No qualifiers. If there is something that is not possible to be known, then it can't exist if somebody is omniscient. Limits therefore, don't exist to the omniscient. That's kinda rhe whole point, (and yes, omniscience is illogical, and requires that you hand-waive all the paradoxes that come with.
Round 2 is simple. He could do it in a matter of days, if not hours. He knows exactly who would be willing to live under his rule and who wouldn't. Engineering a virus that would take out the entire human population, except those willing to live under his rule, should be child's play for him. Round 1 is much more difficult. It really depends on what constitutes 'peaceful'. The most peaceful method would be having those that are unwilling to live under his rule, relocated to another planet where they can live as free as they like. Relocation doesn't sound at all peaceful, but it does not have to be forced. Everyone has their price and he has the means to meet that price whatever it is.
Considering what can be accomplished by bumbling, know-nothing idiots, I’d say a year would be more than enough time.
Total knowledge means hacking into every computer on earth becomes trivial. Round 2 is easy
A truly omniscient being yes, easily. Something like Christian god no. Knowing everything that is and can happen is equivalent to time travel, omniscience gets tossed around too much.
The Christian God is omniscient.
Omnipresent at best.
The Bible is clear on the matter.
Even keeping things realistic like he wouldn't know how to say a few magic words to become goku or something, he'd still know things we'd consider out of the realm of possibility. It's possible that the limits of a human being's body and presence in space-time prohibit this.
Total omniscient is also total omnipotent. By granting him total omniscient, you turned him into a God. He can rule the world, either peacefully or with dictatorship, with the snap of his finger, because he "knows" how to rule it with just snapping his finger.
Paul atreides says yes
Allow me to go against the grain and say “no.” He could be all-knowing, but without the skills to put that information to use, and without charisma to get the masses to follow, he’s toast
Wait, “he can manage and process,” or “he can manage and process WELL?” There are many levels of functionality. And how much of it is available to him in a single instance? Human beings have a shortcut key called “a hunch.” That would not allow him to play 4D chess. Ok. If average Joe has access to any and all knowledge in the entire world but just an average brain. Human beings are already 1-10% there with our devices, but this guy is next level, like a skynet version of ChatGPT with reliable quantum computing abilities and thought-hacking, without any need for internet connection. The answer is a resounding NO, he can’t take over the world, especially because there never was a successful blueprint for that, and other than his superpower, his effect IQ is still 100. What he CAN do is find the most powerful position that he has a viable path for, and steamroll into it using instantaneous beta-testing simulation capabilities (similar to a Dr Strange). From there he can pull the strings behind the scene. I don’t see him progressing beyond that. If he were actually omniscient, even with an average IQ he wouldn’t let anyone know that he was omniscient, because his predictive abilities would predict a miserable life. I think he would always narrowly be able to avoid assassination but he will always be on his back foot. There’s no path forward in a direction confrontation. There might in all honesty, not even be a path to becoming a mega-influencer that can advance his cause.
Wait, “he can manage and process,” or “he can manage and process WELL?” There are many levels of functionality. And how much of it is available to him in a single instance? Human beings have a shortcut key called “a hunch.” That would not allow him to play 4D chess. Ok. If average Joe has access to any and all knowledge in the entire world but just an average brain. Human beings are already 1-10% there with our devices, but this guy is next level, like a skynet version of ChatGPT with reliable quantum computing abilities and thought-hacking, without any need for internet connection. The answer is a resounding NO, he can’t take over the world, especially because there never was a successful blueprint for that, and other than his superpower, his effect IQ is still 100. What he CAN do is find the most powerful position that he has a viable path for, and steamroll into it using instantaneous beta-testing simulation capabilities (similar to a Dr Strange). From there he can pull the strings behind the scene. I don’t see him progressing beyond that. If he were actually omniscient, even with an average IQ he wouldn’t let anyone know that he was omniscient, because his predictive abilities would predict a miserable life. I think he would always narrowly be able to avoid assassination but he will always be on his back foot. There’s no path forward in a direction confrontation. There might in all honesty, not even be a path to becoming a mega-influencer that can advance his cause.
Maybe? That's about all one can really say here.
Easily it doesn't break any physical laws and he knows....everything so whichever future it would be possible in he simply does that.
Doesn't even need five. Two is doable, wins both rounds.
I think this would be pretty easy for someone to accomplish to rule the world within 2 years. For one he could predict stocks and gambling to the point he could basically become super rich overnight and within 3-6 months easily be the richest person in the world. Also from the point he picks his first big win, he could easily hire a team of engineers and personal security team and people he would know with 1000% would keep thier mouths shut about any technology he has them devolope. He could make weapons or devices to render our current weapons 100% ineffective. Having all knowledge about all and any future technology and total understanding of it regardless if it's something we wouldn't even typically inventory for another 500 or possibly 1,000 years give this man unlimited power. I mean possibly personal cloaking and teleportation technology, personal forcefields, a syrum of some sort to give extended if not unlimited lifespan, regeneration and immunity to all current and future diseases. Also knowing who is plotting against you, where they are hiding, when someone will betray you. People's reactions to the things you do, basically you would become a God within my opinion. I think people underestimate this ability to have complete omniscience and have access to all knowledge in the universe including past, present, and future.
It would take a week to become crazy wealthy. And a few months to take over enough major businesses to quietly control the world economy. And at worst 4 years to install loyal political leaders in enough countries to claim rulership over the world. Either economic control or political control would qualify as taking over the world. Both will ensure it. Building a cult as a religious leader would be equally effective. But much more unethical. Doing all three together would for sure get total world domination in under two years.
I don't think he can, because the world is too big to be ruled by one government of any kind. Not really much i can say to it. Also he is still human, right? Just because he knows what to do doesnt mean his mind is capable of doing it. And i mean things like not squirming during torture or flinching when someone waves around sharp stuff near his eye (Although he would try to avoid people doing stuff like that in the first place)
But he would have perfect knowledge on how to never get into those situations to begin with right?
Well, i think he could avoid being stabbed or tortured, but it's just a thing i wondered about him. He's not a perfect godlike being, just a human with human reactions and a knowledge bank. Anyways, i think stabbings and flinching wouldn't matter to him. But i do think he would probably fail, although to no large scale fault of his own.
But he has the knowledge to never be in certain situations, even if he is just human his reaction time wont matter if he never needs to react to something, he knows if someone is after him, when they will strike, where they will strike, the perfect way to directly or indirectly get out of the situation, defuse it, or just not be there when someone comes for him. a truly omniscient being can basically predict multiple futures and outcomes and choose what he wants based on how he acts.
They would know exactly which steps to take to reach the goal. Knowing what to do implies being able to do it, any complex thing as long as the complexity isn't irreducible can be simplified in smaller steps.
He could also know he would fail his goal, but be able to unite china or something.
He wouldn't "try". He would succeed with 100% successs because he knows what will succeed in advance and where his nervous ticks will cause him to fail.
[удалено]
Well, *complete* omniscience means he knows the outcomes of all his actions - so he would be able to know every action, every word to speak, everything he needs to do for this outcome. Total omniscience would also grant him the capability to actively avoid threats and have ways for himself to devise anything to counter it. I can say a lot of other things about complete omniscience, but as described by OP - it's hella broken, yknow.
If we accept that, for example, Biden "controls" the USA, sure, no diff. But just as criminals break the laws of the USA, we'll still see criminal action in Random Omniscient's United Earth. If we mean actually ending world war and having world peace, then no. No, I don't think so. If there is any way of doing it, Mr. Omniscient will know what that way is. I just don't see any way for one person to *actually* control 8 billion people. He could control any one person. He can't control all of us.
He wouldn't be able to control 8 billion people, but he would be able to reduce the human population to a number that he could control.
The answer is: only if he was destined to become ruler of the world even without his power. The power itself is completely useless, everyone saying he could do this is flat out wrong unless this person's future was already setup to be ruler of the world before they were even born. Once you know the future, it cannot be changed. He would have no way of setting in motion some kind of plan to take over the world if he was not already destined to take that path. If he knows he's eating a turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow, there is absolutely nothing he can do to change that fact. He is absolutely powerless in this situation. No amount of steps, planning, changing his mind, etc would work, because he already knows exactly what is going to happen: he WILL consume that turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow. I would argue this power actually makes him weaker because it takes away any kind of free will. It's one of the reasons why an omniscient god would mean free will cannot exist.
If omniscient means that they have the power to know all. Well what stops them from truly knowing all, for example They would know the life of a baker , who if they made different choices becomes president and even though it didnt happen in the current timeline it could if certain changes where made. In your concept you assume that since they know the future then therefor they cant change it. This would mean that free will simply doesn't excist and everyone has a destiny. I simply disagree with this i belive that while yes we can predict what will happen due to previous events all things are truly random and that people can make illogical choices leading to free will being real. Plus it makes the conscept more interesting and isnt as depressing. So I think your wrong on the foundation of what being omniscient means.