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Path: utzoo!watmath!looking!brad
From: brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton)
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Free will and QM "if you believe it"
Message-ID: <217@looking.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Dec-84 00:00:00 EST
Article-I.D.: looking.217
Posted: Mon Dec  3 00:00:00 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 4-Dec-84 19:41:37 EST
References: <152@talcott.UUCP>
Organization: Looking Glass Software, Waterloo, Ont
Lines: 19

First of all, when one says, "QM if you believe it" they are referring
to some particular aspects, like the Cohpenhagen interpretation.  That's
the interpretation that says the sub-observable phenomenon (like the precise
position/momentum of a particle) are meaningless and don't exist.

There are many who don't accept this.

Some proport the "Many Worlds" interpretation.  That says that all events
in a probability distribution happen, and that the essence of being an aware
creature is to take only one of the paths.  This gets rid of the nasty
Copenhagen idea about the "collapse of the wave functions", which Occam's
razor would have us reject, but replaces it with something as distrubing.

As to what the implications of free will in the many worlds interpretation
are, that's hard to say.  Of course I don't support the silly notion that
free will and determinism are contradictory, so it isn't as much of an
issue with me.
-- 
Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. - Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473