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Persona #87

Joseph Smith Jr.

1805–1844
American religious leader, founder of the Latter-day Saint movement

A restoration in upstate New York — pre-mortal souls, eternal matter, exalted human destiny

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where personas disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid (32 attributes) is shown.

Attribute Joseph Smith Jr.
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature implicit
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality implicit
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality implicit
Observer · Time Instance Multiple
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Immediate
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Scripture
Observer · Theological Method Confessional
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity implicit

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each persona's writings reveal about their stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Joseph Smith Jr.

Infinite — pre-mortal existence of spirits and eternal progression after mortality together extend time without bound at both ends of the embodied life.

Space

Joseph Smith Jr.

Infinite — plurality of worlds. "Worlds without number have I created." (Moses 1:33, Pearl of Great Price)

Matter

Joseph Smith Jr.

Infinite, substantival, conserved, three-dimensional, local. The distinctive LDS claim: matter is eternal and uncreated, not made ex nihilo. Spirit is itself a refined kind of matter.

Observer

Joseph Smith Jr.

A single embodied person with multiple time-instances (pre-mortal, mortal, post-mortal). Active in eternal moral progression. Personal metaphysical agency: Heavenly Father (and, in LDS theology, Heavenly Mother), both embodied beings to whom the saints may relate as children to parents.

Energy

Joseph Smith Jr.

Infinite, substantival, conserved.

Information

Joseph Smith Jr.

Conserved at both scales. The Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants are durable revealed records; personal identity persists from pre-mortal through mortal through eternal life.

Internal Tensions

Where each persona's working synthesis strains against itself.

Joseph Smith Jr.

Joseph Smith's practice of plural marriage (the public 1843 revelation, but earlier private practice), the violence at Nauvoo and Carthage, and the ongoing scholarly debate over the historicity and translation processes of the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham are the long-running historical-theological tensions of his legacy. The institutional Church has revised practice (plural marriage discontinued 1890, priesthood opened to all worthy men 1978) while maintaining the substantive theological structure Smith established.