RE: The burden of proof relating to conciousness, free choice and rationality
December 5, 2014 at 9:49 pm
(February 24, 2012 at 9:02 pm)marx_2012 Wrote:I am a supporter of Laplace’s Demon.Therefore I place the burden of proof for atheists to resolve this matter. Please discuss.
On a macro scale, I know that if I fire a stream of electrons at a phosphor screen, I will see a glowing spot every time. However, though we know, and can predict, the outcome of the stream. It would seem that we cannot, with any certainty, predict the path of any single particle within that stream. QM equations include statistical formulas that predict where the particle will probably go, but the particle can go anywhere and any time.
Take radiation as an example. The half-life of any radioactive element is very accurate (so they say). Let us say we have a radioactive element with 32 atoms and the half-life is one second. We know that after the first second there will be only 16 radioactive atoms left and after one more second, there will now be eight etc.. What we do not know, and cannot predict, is which specific atom will decay at what specific moment, only how many.
It is this uncertainty principle that gets used and abused by everyone.
The question is whether or not there is a solid predictable rule, that we have yet to find, that would let us predict the absolute path of a particle. (which of course would then lend more credence to Laplace’s Demon)
The argument generally presented for free will, is that Laplace’s Demon, per QM, cannot exist and some how we have the ability to change an outcome. This would be acceptable under the present rules of QM by considering ourselves the observers and selective observation would generate selective outcomes.
The problem here is, if we can use our free will in this manner, then we should be able to generate any possible outcome at our whim. It would appear that is not so.
Random does not work because then all possibilities should be equal and without favor in which case, the macro world could not exist.
You make people miserable and there's nothing they can do about it, just like god.
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-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
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-- The Rev Lovejoy
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
