The Law Causality

All things have a cause. Nothing happens without one. Anybody disagree?

I disagree.Firstly, how can we be sure anything has a cause anyway - what does it mean to have a cause? I am not at all sure this can be answered in a manner that would enable us to deduct or even infer that all things have a cause.Secondly, what do you mean by happens? Can you define this in a way which does not presuppose that happening is dependent on a cause?Thirdly, why is it so difficult to believe in something without a cause? Billions of traditional Christians, Jews, Muslims and Hindus do so with some dedication.

I also dissagree.To my knowledge, as far as we can tell the Casimir (sp?) effect has no cause.------------------
He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.
- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Casimir effect is due to quantum vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. These Vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field are caused by oscilliting strings on a plank sized scale.

I disagree as well. Atomic decay seems to happen without cause. That is, if you have 50 atoms of a specfic element that decays rapidy, and you observe one of the atoms in decay - why that atom? What caused that atom to decay and not another one?It happens at random, of course. This was what really upset Einstein.I don't think causality is a law; it's more like a general principle of our perception of the universe. We may percieve a mechanistic universe to some degree; but we certainly don't live in one.

by my post my intention was to argue whether there was a such thing as the The Law of Causality. which is just the principle of cause and effect ie the principle that everything that happens must have a cause
as to your comment about Christians Jews ect. i really didn't want to get into a religious debate just sort of a scientific debate. And anyways the are allowed to bypass this law because God or gods are not of this universe and are therefore not subject to the laws which govern this universe. Should have made a better first post sorry.

first off crashfrog there are many different types of Atomic decay
and the weak force is responsible for beta decay
as for the rest read this site http://library.thinkquest.org/3471/radiation_types_body.html

You missed my point. What's responsible for choosing which specific atom will decay next? It's just random - no causality.

that randomness has a cause though. my point is that every event has a cause. An beta decay is an event, the cause is the weak force. the specific atom doesn't matter, just that the event was caused. get what I'm saying?

No, it does very much matter if you're going to try to say "every event has a cause." If every event has a cause, no random events can occur. I pointed out a random event. Therefore, some events occur without cause.If your entire world was an atom - if only that one atom was all the atoms you had ever seen - and it decayed suddenly, wouldn't you say that it occured without cause?The weak force explains the general phenomenon of beta decay for all atoms, but it doesn't explain why, at any one moment, one atom decayed while another did not. Hence, that specific atom's decay was random and uncaused. Ergo, causality is not a universal law; random, causeless events can and do occur.

it is a caused event and a random event. We know why it is happening but not where it will happen. Causality deals with the why

it is a caused event and a random event. We know why it is happening but not where it will happen. Causality deals with the why

Ok, so why did that atom decay and not another? If we live in a causal universe, then there's a cause that mechanistically determines the outcomes of "random" events. But we don't live in that universe, we live in a universe where some events are truly random and happen without cause. Ergo causality is not universal.

I'm sure there is a reason but, as science is a work in progress, and i do not know all of it i cannot say. however why would you want to live in a universe that there is no Causality.

So, you're sure we live in a mechanistic, deterministic universe? You don't think God plays dice, in other words? I don't believe this has been a popular view in physics for about 50 years. But (seriously, not sarcastically) what do I know? I never said I wanted a universe without causality. But clearly, causality is not a principle that can explain everything. Somethings are simply beyond causality. Perhaps even the existence of the universe. There's no way to know, of course.