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Author Topic:   Random or just incomplete information?
lfen
Member (Idle past 4678 days)
Posts: 2189
From: Oregon
Joined: 06-24-2004


Message 1 of 44 (123768)
07-11-2004 4:26 PM


I was talking to someone who thought the universe was determined from the first moment, in other words there is no randomness. If you flip a coin its fall is determined by such a large number of factors that no human can predict the outcome. There is no free will in this as your actions are outcomes of an immensely large number of causes.
Is there randomness? Freewill? If you believe there is then how does it work?
Nelf

Replies to this message:
 Message 3 by jar, posted 07-11-2004 7:50 PM lfen has replied
 Message 4 by Chiroptera, posted 07-11-2004 8:02 PM lfen has not replied
 Message 17 by Dr Adequate, posted 10-13-2014 12:20 PM lfen has not replied

  
lfen
Member (Idle past 4678 days)
Posts: 2189
From: Oregon
Joined: 06-24-2004


Message 5 of 44 (123819)
07-11-2004 8:11 PM
Reply to: Message 3 by jar
07-11-2004 7:50 PM


I don't think it's been established that there is no difference.
There are several philosophical questions that may be theoretical but I find of interest, the one about free will vs. determinism being the first that comes to mind.
There is also a philosophical theological argument that is currently being expressed by some advaitist. The Hindu viewpoint that the Universe arises out of primordial consciousness and thus the manifest universe is like a huge play being witnessed by consciousness which by identification thinks it's taking part in in but the truth is it's just witnessing the ongoing unfolding of what was fated from the beginning.
I also was hoping to hear from folks who might have some insights into ways randomness may interupt casuality and thus interupt conditioning and perhaps give some insight into the notion of free will.
Is the history of the universe unfolding in the only way it could unfold? So it's not just could we have predicted it, another way to put it is could the universe and history and each of our lives been any different? Or has it all been unfolding as a chain of causes?
lfen

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Replies to this message:
 Message 16 by Dr Jack, posted 10-13-2014 11:48 AM lfen has not replied

  
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