Is the universe deterministic?

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jonks

Lifer
Feb 7, 2005
13,918
20
81
No one can know everything, because one nugget of info such a person would have would be that there are some things which are unknowable, thus negating the possibility of omniscience.
 

So

Lifer
Jul 2, 2001
25,923
17
81
Originally posted by: jonks
No one can know everything, because one nugget of info such a person would have would be that there are some things which are unknowable, thus negating the possibility of omniscience.

...what?
 

jonks

Lifer
Feb 7, 2005
13,918
20
81
Originally posted by: So
Originally posted by: jonks
No one can know everything, because one nugget of info such a person would have would be that there are some things which are unknowable, thus negating the possibility of omniscience.

...what?

It's the paradox of omniscience. Similar to the paradox of omnipotence. i.e. if god can do anything, can he create a rock so heavy he can't lift it?

1 - if he can do anything, then he can create such a rock
2 - but if he can do anything, he can lift any rock no matter how heavy, but that means he cannot in fact create a rock so heavy he can't lift it
3 - rinse, repeat

i.e.i.e. unstoppable force meets unmovable object
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
126
tbqhwy.com
Originally posted by: jonks
Originally posted by: So
Originally posted by: jonks
No one can know everything, because one nugget of info such a person would have would be that there are some things which are unknowable, thus negating the possibility of omniscience.

...what?

It's the paradox of omniscience. Similar to the paradox of omnipotence. i.e. if god can do anything, can he create a rock so heavy he can't lift it?

1 - if he can do anything, then he can create such a rock
2 - but if he can do anything, he can lift any rock no matter how heavy, but that means he cannot in fact create a rock so heavy he can't lift it
3 - rinse, repeat

i.e.i.e. unstoppable force meets unmovable object



Chuck Norris Dies
 

Eeezee

Diamond Member
Jul 23, 2005
9,922
0
76
Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider
Since there are things which are fundamentally chaotic, no.

You cannot in principle know the future state of a subatomic particle. Where will an electron be at any given point in time? It's impossible to know even in principle. Now you can talk about probabilities of events, but that's it.

Not true - quantum mechanics agrees with you, but deterministic formulations have come a long way (ie hidden variable theory - it looks statistical to us, but there are hidden variables that we don't know about). Modern approaches provide the same answers as quantum mechanics. The problem is that since they don't provide MORE answers, there's no reason to teach subatomic deterministic theories when quantum does the trick.