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From: manwar@cyclops.iucf.indiana.edu ()
Subject: Re: Randomness is a human concept (was Re: Time is a human concept)
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Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 04:32:39 GMT
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Most anyone will admit that probability is OFTEN a measure of relative
ignorance. If you don't know all the forces/factors/motivations, you say
"He'll probably do this, not that" or "40% chance of rain tomorrow."
If you knew it all, you'd say "Hail at 4:23 followed by flash flood at 
5:03". That's the way people thought in the 18th century; if you knew
it all, the future would be totally predictable.

But then along came quantum mechanics... And the basic equations say 
that there is no way to know for sure which way this particular electron
will go. The equations give you a nice probability distribution, which
experimentation will prove EXTREMELY accurate over millions of electron
events. But for one event, there's no telling! 

Kinda neat, actually; fuzzes the universe up a bit. The future branches 
into infinite possible universes...Maybe even leaves room for free will,
whatever that is (can't equate it to RANDOMNESS).

So, you determinists, read you Schrodinger and join the 20th before it ends.

  Miles A
