Since we will never know the state of the universe in it's entirety at any one point in time , of what use is determinism?
God thinks it's fun to confuse primates. Larsen's God!
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Laplace's Demon
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 (May 21, 2017 at 6:03 pm)chimp3 Wrote: Since we will never know the state of the universe in it's entirety at any one point in time , of what use is determinism? Strictly speaking, for my actions of the next ten econds, I only need to know my past light cone of 3 million kilometers around me, so that's way less than the universe. Still impossible to know, although conceivably better to control. But I don't think it does much. The absence of determinism doesn't magically explain "free will" for example. It is an interesting question whether it is possible to have deterministic laws of nature. There, det. can be a good guiding principle.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
Sagan pretty well disposed of the 'demon' in his essay 'Reflections on a Grain of Salt'. Essentially, I don't need to visit in situ every sodium and chlorine atom in a grain of salt in order to know where each atom is going to be - the principles governing chemical bonding and valences will tell me that. By extension, I don't need to know the state of the universe to get reasonable answers about the state of the universe.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
What's life without a little mystery.
God thinks it's fun to confuse primates. Larsen's God!
(May 22, 2017 at 5:05 am)chimp3 Wrote: What's life without a little mystery. There'd be no science if we knew everything. Wouldn't that be a pity!
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
(May 22, 2017 at 7:40 am)Alex K Wrote:(May 22, 2017 at 5:05 am)chimp3 Wrote: What's life without a little mystery. I would still have a job probably not you.
God thinks it's fun to confuse primates. Larsen's God!
(May 22, 2017 at 6:31 pm)chimp3 Wrote:(May 22, 2017 at 7:40 am)Alex K Wrote: There'd be no science if we knew everything. Wouldn't that be a pity! It depends. My main job right now is teaching...
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
(May 23, 2017 at 12:02 am)Alex K Wrote:(May 22, 2017 at 6:31 pm)chimp3 Wrote: I would still have a job probably not you. Ok, so if we knew everything and you went on teaching...gad, that's my worst nightmare - a teacher who knows everything. One of the ways I used to relieve the mind-numbing tedium of school was to raise my hand, put on my innocent face, and ask the teacher, 'So...how do we know that?' Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
 RE: Laplace's Demon
May 23, 2017 at 5:12 am
(This post was last modified: May 23, 2017 at 5:13 am by bennyboy.)
(May 21, 2017 at 6:03 pm)chimp3 Wrote: Since we will never know the state of the universe in it's entirety at any one point in time , of what use is determinism? The idea of determinism allows us to simplify our view of the universe, and to focus our efforts in manipulating actual cause-and-effect relationships in bettering our lives. This is opposed to thinking "maybe" about a million implausible things, wasting time on them, and watching your kid die of cancer anyway or whatever because God "works in mysterious ways." (read: He's a fucking cocksucking asshole P.O.S., and if we could kill Him we should) (May 23, 2017 at 5:12 am)bennyboy Wrote:We tried! We tried! Fuckers keep coming back to life!(May 21, 2017 at 6:03 pm)chimp3 Wrote: Since we will never know the state of the universe in it's entirety at any one point in time , of what use is determinism?
God thinks it's fun to confuse primates. Larsen's God!
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