IF there is no such thing as god or a soul, and possibly even if there is, our physical bodies and all our actions and choices, who we are friends with, what we like, our phone number, and every time you've ever dotted an 'i' with a heart, are the product of a flow of energy through matter, time and space, set in place at the beginning of either time or the universe. And there's nothing that anyone can ever do to change that.
perhaps each event is not guaranteed to happen, but there is only a chance that each thing will happen
That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the cause, or predictor of all actions and happenings and prettymuch everything. Yeah, there's a chance that I'm gonna get food poisoning and die, but if I do (or even don't), it was going to be that way since the matter in the universe was set in motion. Assuming, of course, that we and everything else are just chemicals and energy.
but youre assuming that the all actions are definately caused by other actions. Im suggesting that when something happens, there is a chance that several things could happen, and that the resulting cause is not definate, but left up to probability
I gotcha. However, if you know how each atom involved will interact with each other one, you could predict it. Picture the movement of every atom or energy bundle or whatever as a line. An atom that starts at A will draw a line and where it ends up in two minutes is B. Of course, it can fly all over the place, but the only thing that can act on it is other matter or energy. Given that the initial input of energy, from which all else is derived, was the start of the universe, all lines were drawn in that instant.
it sounds to me that you are essentially speaking of fate... To me this question not only cannot be answered but makes no difference. What is the difference if an event was going to happen all along or if it happened by choice, the result does not vary. Its cause and effect either way... and us humans always see each action as a choice, even if the choice was always made for us. but hey i could just be seeing it in too small a way, and its kinda fun to discuss anways i suppose
sound like migu is talking about chaos theory. if a butterfly flaps its wings in china, all kinds of different reactions can occur and ultimately cause a volcano to erupt in hawaii, or make my neighbour sneeze and freaker's initial post sounds like pseudo quantum physics. energy driven by intent creates change in a strange but predictable manner ps, i like fate personally
its all a matter of how atoms and subatomic particles bump into each other. my nose just itched because something happened to trigger some neurons in my brain to make me scratch my nose. if we can get a machine that is extremely precise, then we could predict the future by studying how the molecules are moving and whats gonna happen to them down the road. its kinda like planning out a pool shot.
but it is impossible to know with certainty certain properties of the atom, like the position of the electrons. We can only know the probability that they will be in a certain position. If it is not possible to calculate exact properties or the atom, do you really think that it would be possible to calculate anything more than the probability of how it reacts? though i guess this is all being limited to human perspective. just because we cant calculate something(especially something as theoretical as this), does not mean it is not following a distinct pattern
i dont think such a machine will ever be possible, as all our knowledge is based upon theory(ie assumption). If there are any faults in any of those assumptions, our so called knowledge is useless
Yeah, I know that we can't know the positions of electrons, but they have a position. We wont be able to predict the future with this, it's just interesting to think about.
possible, but by no means certain or even probable. what is probable is that when we no longer possess a physical brain, because our bodies have rotted away and ceased to live, we will no longer in a literal sense remember any of those things. only those preferences which have become inate to the existence of our awairness will remain with us if it does extend beyond this life and possibly, perhapse even probably, into others of which we know not, and perhapse not even dream. i more then want this to be, and suspect that it does: that whether or not awairness is contiguous from one life to the next, that indeed there will be other lives, even as there in our past, have also been. =^^= .../\...
