Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/3/84; site talcott.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!mcnc!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!talcott!gjk From: gjk@talcott.UUCP (Greg J Kuperberg) Newsgroups: net.physics Subject: Re: Re: Re: why FTL is illegal (wrt: free will). Message-ID: <171@talcott.UUCP> Date: Thu, 6-Dec-84 17:07:53 EST Article-I.D.: talcott.171 Posted: Thu Dec 6 17:07:53 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 9-Dec-84 06:29:47 EST References: <683@gloria.UUCP> <785@ariel.UUCP><148@lems.UUCP> <152@talcott.UUCP> <277@rlgvax.UUCP> Organization: Harvard Lines: 27 > But that just says that the universe just appears random because we haven't > looked in great enough detail. If you assume 1) a deterministic and > complete theory of how the universe works, 2) 100% no exclusions complete > knowledge of the initial state of the universe, and 3) enough computing > ability to crank the model forward from that initial state, you can predict > all future states of the universe. ... > Guy Harris A big milestone in weather forecasting was when they computed twenty-four hours of weather in twenty-four hours. The thing about a non-linear system is that it may take more time than you have to predict its future. Some people conjecture that even if we had a computer as big as the Earth, it would take us more than ten years to compute ten years of weather on Earth. Thus what the weather will be ten years from now is *unknowable*, and therefore random. In any case, we would have to know the position of every molecule in the atmosphere, also an impossible task (even in classical mechanics). --- Greg Kuperberg harvard!talcott!gjk "Madam, there is only one important question facing us, and that is the question whether the white race will survive." -Leonid Breshnev, speaking to Margaret Thatcher.