RE: Determinism, Free Will and Paradox
January 17, 2015 at 12:20 pm
(This post was last modified: January 17, 2015 at 12:21 pm by bennyboy.)
(January 17, 2015 at 12:01 pm)Alex K Wrote: Concerning your third paragraph: yes, from a maths point of view I'd say the whole history of the universe would be equivalent to the initial conditions plus the fundamental laws of physics. Deep philosophical question: does time even exist in this case?Saying that subsequent conditions are a product of initial conditions and the laws of physics seems to imply that time does exist. But I think the directionality is less clear-- given that all states, from beginning to end, are set in stone, then why wouldn't we argue that the initial conditions are a product OF subsequent events?
Quote:In any case, there currently aren't good reasons to think the universe is deterministic, so this discussion is interesting mainly as a thought experiment.I've often agreed with you on this. However, how would one collect evidence on either side of this question?
