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From: ltn@lems.UUCP (Les Niles)
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Re: why FTL is illegal (wrt: free will).
Message-ID: <148@lems.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 30-Nov-84 08:58:19 EST
Article-I.D.: lems.148
Posted: Fri Nov 30 08:58:19 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 4-Dec-84 08:25:39 EST
References: <683@gloria.UUCP> <785@ariel.UUCP> 
Reply-To: ltn@lems.UUCP (Les Niles)
Organization: lems
Lines: 20



In article  djsalomon@watdaisy.UUCP (Daniel J. Salomon) writes:
>
>Free will versus determinism is an ancient unresolved theological
>problem.  "If God knows the future how can we change it with our free
>will."  There is a scientific equivalent of this paradox.  "If the
>current positions of particles and the elementary forces determine the
>paths and future positions of particles then how can an intelligent
>being make a decision that changes those paths and affects the real
>world."  When this question is answered, we will know "the meaning of
>life, the universe and everything."

But quantum mechanics did away with this possibility.  The central idea of
QM (if you believe it) is that the universe is *fundamentally* random; it
doesn't just appear random because we haven't looked in great enough detail.

So maybe this fundamental uncertainty is the origin of "free will."

-les niles