RE: determinism versus indeterminism
December 27, 2008 at 3:04 pm
(This post was last modified: December 27, 2008 at 3:04 pm by Purple Rabbit.)
(December 20, 2008 at 1:26 pm)josef rosenkranz Wrote: Is it possible to think that some genius could formulate a system of mathematical equations which shall point to the fall of the meteorite in a certain date in the live of Earth ?That's precisely the claim of determinists. In fact it has been called Laplace's Demon. While since Laplace several small and big 'refinements' to the Newtonian laws have been made, it doesn't change the argument. Still all causation is subject to strict laws of nature. Whether quantummechanical uncertainty spoils the argument remains to be seen. So without quantum mechanics the fall of the meteorite is subject to strict and arbitrarily precise laws. Given those laws and a specific start situation with all its variables determined, the fall of the meteorite can be predicted by Laplace's Demon with millimeter and nanosecond precision. Bottomline: the fall of the meteorite is not random at all but follows from the strict nature of the laws of nature. There is no room for free will.
Also observe that Heisenberg's uncertainty principle may add fuzzyness to the picture, the fuzzyness in itself does not give room for intelligent intervention in the laws of nature.
"I'm like a rabbit suddenly trapped, in the blinding headlights of vacuous crap" - Tim Minchin in "Storm"
Christianity is perfect bullshit, christians are not - Purple Rabbit, honouring CS Lewis
Faith is illogical - fr0d0
Christianity is perfect bullshit, christians are not - Purple Rabbit, honouring CS Lewis
Faith is illogical - fr0d0