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...the coin flipping machine could be a reality... by kittycat@concentric.net December 15, 2000 If you think about it, evrybody has a sort of "limited free-will." Since every action results from some cause, then in theory if you knew the significance of every bit of knowledge, then you could predict every event in the universe. The brain makes decisions based not only on its genetic make-up, but also events that it has perceived. That is how you make decisions. Although you feel like you have a choice when thinking about something, you are always predestined to reach the same decision. If one period in time was repeated, the same results would occur. For example, think about a machine that would flip a coin under the same conditions every time it ran. Would it not always fall on the same side? In theory, if you apply the exact same pressure to a coin, would it not always fall on the same side? Could you build such a device? But, that is beside the point, that everything that will occur must occur. However, it is impossible to predict the future, since even if you did possess the knowledge of everything, then you would have to factor your knowing everything into the equation, and then after that factor in your factoring in that information, and so it would go. This relates to the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle. But, this proposal sounds odd because it then feels like you have no control over your life. However, you have to realize that you are the process that makes decisions. You still are deciding things according to the process that is ever-evolving in your mind, but the data that enters it differs. It's like a gigantic calculator, except that each person sees the operations differently. When you try to decide what the number means you may be uncertain about what you should report as the outcome, but you will inevitably reach the same conclusion due to what your decision making process (DNC) constititutes at the time. Does this mean you should give up trying to do things since the result will be inevitable? No, because what you do this you are degrading your DNC and in effect, creating a self-forfilling dooming prophecy. For example, lets assume you have a test tomorrow and still have yet to learn all of the knowledge. A bystander that has seen you repeatly earn good grades would assume that you would therefore receive another good grade on this test. To them, this is a near-certainty if they assume past performance is an indication of the future. However, you could not so easily make the same statement. If you were to justify that you will make a good grade on the test because you always do, and then forfeit your study time for less important activities, you are dooming your results for that test. What if you don't learn everything, or fail due to bad luck? Until the test is over and returned, you are unclear of your fate. But most likely it will be good, like the outside observer thought. This is why you can see things better the farther you are from them. The earth can be seen with greater accuracy from space, at a far distance. Analogous to this, your life can better be examined by people who view it from a distance, where they can be much more objective. But this is beside the point of your "free will." For example, you may think you decide what you eat for dinner. You have a preset idea in your head of what you like and what you think you should have. This idea changes constantly, according to your mood, appetite, recent experiences, etc. Next, you consider the situation. Perhaps the food you want is unavailable, out of the way to get, too expensive, or you are with people who might want something else. Combined, these factors determine what you eat. You have nothing to do with it except for the fact that you are the constantly changing standard of what is desirable. Everthing in the world will happen because it must happen based on current conditions, which are based on past conditions. If you could somehow detach yourself from the universe, then perhaps you could rationally extrapolate future conditions; but this is not an option. In this sense, there could be a sort of fate if the universe had a beginning. But if the past goes back infinitely, then it is not so easy. If a big bang occured again in the exact same way as it did originally, then would the exact same people form again and do the same things? Most likely. But, this may never occur, just as a coin-flipping machine may never be made. But, this conflicts with the theory of multiple universes, where a person perceives their way through a world of infinite choice. Unless there are indeed an infinite number of universes but we are locked into only one of them. And all of this conflicts with the theory of exactitudes, that any action be performed to any exact measure without fail. It can't be done, hence why it is all theory. © III Enterprises & neotope.com |
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