Monday, April 21, 2008

Quanto-Determinism

Quantum mechanics tells us that at a certain microscopic level the physical dynamics of particles becomes based on probability.
"Classical" or Relativistic Mechanics tells us that everything is clear-cut and completely predictable. Which would mean in the grand scheme of things, the universe is deterministic (free will doesn't exist since EVERYTHING is fundamentally mathematical and therefore, predictable [it is possible to predict the outcome of dice mathematically]).
Now some people have speculated, since quantum mechanics came around, that since the subatomic world is based on probability, determinism was out.
But this isn't necessarily true. Determinism still can exist, but with an underlying quantum probability component. That means that even though there is randomness in the universe, the outer more classical shell will still behave predictibly. This then means that the smaller you get, the most unpredictable things become.
On a side note, some people think that just because randomness exists, that free will exists. This is not true. Even if the brain worked on a quantum level, your thoughts and actions would still be "caught in the wind" of what ever random outcomes your brain spat out. There is no room for free will in any modern model of the universe. What you do is the ultimate outcome of everything that happened before that time.

The end.

No comments: