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.