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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / What does dertermincy or determinism mean?
« on: 25/01/2015 16:31:22 »
Sometimes in discussions with people about various unexplained phenomena they seem to use the uncertainty principle or quantum mechanics in general as an argument for "anything is possible" because the universe is not determined.
Does "probabilistic" actually mean not determined? Whether you're changing the outcome of a completely deterministic classical event, or changing the quantum probability distribution to a slightly different probability distribution, are you not still monkeying with the physical laws? Is there room "within" the probability distribution to sneak in certain things (like say free will) that might contradict classical determinism? You might not notice such a violation once, but wouldn't you notice over time, like someone playing with loaded dice?
What does determinacy mean in terms of quantum mechanics and physical laws?
Does "probabilistic" actually mean not determined? Whether you're changing the outcome of a completely deterministic classical event, or changing the quantum probability distribution to a slightly different probability distribution, are you not still monkeying with the physical laws? Is there room "within" the probability distribution to sneak in certain things (like say free will) that might contradict classical determinism? You might not notice such a violation once, but wouldn't you notice over time, like someone playing with loaded dice?
What does determinacy mean in terms of quantum mechanics and physical laws?