Q: Why do I exist? A: Because you’re going to have lots of children.
Just wrong. The only thing close to this with even a little bit of poetic truth would be that I exist because Azathoth, being familiar with my design, rationally expects me to have lots of children.
a mutually beneficial trade with Azathoth (Azathoth creates you; you increase your reproductive fitness in exchange)
At first I reacted negatively to this idea, but eventually I realized that the argument has the same acausal trade structure as the rest of the EDT-inspired nonsense around here. My voluntary reproductive efforts seem to be evidence about my genetic makeup, and that genetic makeup is in a causal relationship with my existence. So that is not what is wrong with this idea.
The trouble is that
Azathoth has already given me what I want—my existence.
My ancestral history has already given Azathoth the evidence that it wants—any reproductive behavior that I indulge in is superfluous to my own existence (though Azathoth may well take it into account in deciding whether to grant existence to my children).
Just wrong. The only thing close to this with even a little bit of poetic truth would be that I exist because Azathoth, being familiar with my design, rationally expects me to have lots of children.
At first I reacted negatively to this idea, but eventually I realized that the argument has the same acausal trade structure as the rest of the EDT-inspired nonsense around here. My voluntary reproductive efforts seem to be evidence about my genetic makeup, and that genetic makeup is in a causal relationship with my existence. So that is not what is wrong with this idea.
The trouble is that
Azathoth has already given me what I want—my existence.
My ancestral history has already given Azathoth the evidence that it wants—any reproductive behavior that I indulge in is superfluous to my own existence (though Azathoth may well take it into account in deciding whether to grant existence to my children).