4 ms·
This is weird. If the observer in the universe is able to make accurate predictions consistently and repeatedly, doesn't that give confidence to his beliefs tha
by paraschopra 13y ago
This is weird. If the observer in the universe is able to make accurate predictions consistently and repeatedly, doesn't that give confidence to his beliefs that the universe is deterministic. What you might be referring to is another way of saying that "any theory can be proven wrong if and when we observe a data point negating it". So, of course, there is no way of knowing if the universe is __truly__ deterministic or not, but then again we can say the same thing about sun rising from the east (unlikely as it may be, it might well just not rise tomorrow at all and then we will have to revise our theories).
- jblow 13y agoDid you read the OP? The whole question is about whether the apparent randomness in quantum mechanics means the universe is fundamentally nondeterministic. We cannot make accurate predictions of measurements of quantum state apart from saying things like "A will happen with some probability, otherwise B will happen". It is that "with some probability" that is the question. (Yes, at the level of the macroscopic world we can make consistently accurate predictions, but physicists would say this is because we are operating at a scale where the statistical nature of quantum mechanics averages out, etc. Unless you are Carver Mead or one of the other wave guide kinds of guys who believe there actually is no randomness in QM and it is deterministic all the way down.)
- crististm 13y agoDouble slit experiment shows that you can't predict which slit the particles are going to go. This is pretty much non-determinism to me