(April 7, 2016 at 2:56 pm)RozKek Wrote: I've read a bit about determinism and indeterminism and browed a bit but I haven't found a clear answer to my question:
Does true randomness exist?
If so, how does it "work"?
Well, in a way, it may only be proper to call it "true randomness" if there's no sufficient answer to the question "how does it 'work'".
Consider 100 molecules of some radioactive element. We know the element's half life, and we know that 50 will decay over the half life, but we cannot predict which 50 will decay and which 50 will not. My understanding is, essentially, there are two possibilities:
1) There's something underlying all of this, behind the veil of physics, or observation or something, that says which molecule is ready to decay and when
2) There's not, and there is literally nothing that could allow us to determine which one will decay when - essentially, it is a property of the universe that you can't know which molecule is going to decay until it has decayed.
If that 2nd is the case, it's "true randomness" in a strong sense. Even if the first is the case, it's still "true randomness" in a weak sense, until we have empirically determined the underlying mechanism.
The consensus seems to be that #2 is indeed the case, iirc - please, some physicist (ALEXK WHERE ARE YOU) correct me if I'm wrong.
How will we know, when the morning comes, we are still human? - 2D
Don't worry, my friend. If this be the end, then so shall it be.
Don't worry, my friend. If this be the end, then so shall it be.
