Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-tgr.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!brl-tgr!gwyn From: gwyn@brl-tgr.ARPA (Doug Gwyn) Newsgroups: net.physics,net.origins,net.religion Subject: Re: \"Chances are . . . .\" Message-ID: <460@brl-tgr.ARPA> Date: Tue, 6-Aug-85 07:41:36 EDT Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.460 Posted: Tue Aug 6 07:41:36 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 7-Aug-85 03:47:08 EDT References: <3454@decwrl.UUCP> Organization: Ballistic Research Lab Lines: 10 Xref: linus net.physics:2803 net.origins:2054 net.religion:6921 > I mean I hear people saying funny things like "the world came about by > chance". What are they saying? Isn't 'chance' merely a DESCRIPTION, > not a THING to produce anything? People say lots of funny things. Perhaps what you're referring to is the physics consensus that the fundamental laws are inherently probabilistic, with the probability NOT due simply to a lack of sufficiently detailed information but rather a constraint on just how much detail is knowable. This is "quantum physics" and you should look in a good encyclopedia for an overview of the subject.