>>22843445Lastly, the argument assumes that objective list theory is right. If hedonism is right or desire satisfaction theory then God could simply make creatures with maximal pleasure or fulfilled desires. This is especially problematic because objective list theory is very implausible.
Thus the argument assumes:
There are archons.
Libertarian free will is right (otherwise the archons would just help us out).
Objective list theory is true.
The archons for some reason don’t make their existence obvious.
The world absent archons is filled with enormous gratuitous suffering—rather than merely being absent in certain goods.
The world absent archons doesn’t appear to be presided over by any agents.
God for some reason needs us to be in actual danger—rather than just having the archons believe we’re in danger.
Each of these assumptions, however, is quite doubtful. They range from somewhat dubious to ridiculously unlikely. Even if we give each of them a generous 1/3 chance of being correct, the odds they’re all right is 1/2187. Very unlikely!
Suppose one simply knew that God existed. Would they really expect a world as bad as this? This world? The one where thousands of children die every day, where nearly every organism who has ever lived has died after just a few days or weeks? If an angel proposed that God would make such a world, they’d be laughed at—and not invited to all the cool angel parties. The only reason anyone seriously entertains that this world is made by a perfect God is because they have status quo bias. They can’t imagine just how much better a world that God would actually make would be.
