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Question: Place Infinity into the Equation of Determinism Vs!. Free Will Vs!. Chaos Theory!?
Some philosophers believe in determism!. They believe that it is impossible to avoid a future event!. Sure, that's true if there was an end number/event to determine what would happen!. Ok, let's say you put Earth into a bubble!. The only thing that exists is Earth!. Hypothetically speaking, if you knew all the degrees and angles and velocities of everything in and on Earth, you would be able to calculate and predict what would happen in the future!. Ok, now take the bubble off of Earth and put it to the galaxy, same thing!. Now to the whole universe, same thing!. But let's say the universe never ends!. It goes on forever, for eternity and infinity!. Now there is no end result to determine what will happen in the future because there are an infinite number of constants!. So if this infinity variable was true, that means we can mark out determinism leaving us with free will or chaos!. Simple question, but one that has been pondered on for years: Do we have free will or chaos!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I think that Phoenix Quill got a correct intuition but he expressed it very misleadingly!.
The problem you posit as 'placing infinity' into the equation of physical predictability is just a practical problem of knowability, not a problem to the deterministic ontology: in the universe is infinite in the way you say, we probably will not ever be able to manage to have a theory to predict with absolute certainty the behaviour of a physical system, given the supposition that there are an infinite number of 'physical constants'!. This does not posit a real problem to the -ontological- claim of determinists (as for instance quantum mechanics does or g?delian arguments)!. Epistemology ned not determine ontology, even if this relation is very complex and special (it can summarize the enterprise of the whole philosophy)!. Chaos theory is just a way to say that the universe is far more complex than our capacities to get to know it completely well!. But complexity is more like a psychological or relative to subjective conceptual states notion instead of a ontological claim!. Quantum mechanics on the other hand, intends to be a theory directly ABOUT objects in the world and their properties!.
These are two kind of arguments with significantly different philosophical outcomes!.
We probably will not ever be able to make every possible sum of positive integers!. We have good reasons though to say that there is always going to be a one positive integer correct result to the sum of any two positive integers even if there are an infinite number of positive integers!. (I think that the problem you intuit fits well analogically into this example!.)
If you think that the problem comes as if you would sum a small infinite set of numbers to another infinite set of numbers, probably the sum would be very complex or even strange (as in 1x + 1x = 1x, where x means 'aleph-zero cardinality set', very anti-intuitive) but THAT would not mean that A SINGLE CORRECT result is impossible (strangeness is not impossibility)!.
(If by any chance you had in mind a problem of this sort, there you have a possible answer; arithmetic of transfinite numbers can also be deterministic in the sense of being able to be established by stable functions or functions that guarantee A certain output or result!. Stable would mean here, that guarantees predictability!.)
How and if we can be able to grasp those functions is an epistemological problem (of math and physics at least), but in principle it doesn't posit any problem to most deterministic claims about the nature of our universe!.
I hope that I was clear and useful!
(interesting question!.!.!.)Www@QuestionHome@Com
Free will is a metaphysical concept!.
Chaos theory is a mathematical/physics concept!.
Therefore, this is like comparing apples and oranges!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Via our senses we GUESS at the logic that the universe seems to runs on!.
But it's always a guess!. Sometimes we get the logic wrong, sometimes we fail to notice all the causes, and sometimes incredible small causes can cascade into profoundly massive effects!. Alas poor Schr?dinger's cat, I knew it well!.
But the Universe DOES seem to run on logic!. There seems to be consistant physical LAWS that govern how energy-space-time behaves!.
Now I admit it's a guess, but it sure SEEMS like cause & effect is absolute!.
Which make free will an absurd notion!. Because what would will be free from if not cause & effect!.
If someone tells us their decision wasn't based on anything, we believe they are lying!.
Why!?
Because we know damn well that EVERYTHING has a cause!.
Chaos is what we call Determinism when there are just too damn many causes to keep track of!.
Is the future determined!. No!. There's no such thing as the future!. It's the name we give for what we think will happen next!.
It's what we think will happen based on our knowelege of causes & logic!.
But it's only a guess!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
I hear you loud and clear!. I understood the concept as infinity from a young age, which captivated me!. That lead me to considering infinity as the context of life!. Too young to really understand the significance of infinity I left it alone to ponder much later in life!. Now twenty-five, I have found many things true and interconnected through the Oneness of infinity!. Many fail to see these things because infinity is excluded as context and also the reliance on the mind and intellect which usually considers only content or form!.
The mind fails to see the limitation of "causality" and "cause and effect" I love your example of the earth bubble!. That is a good way to convey your point to the intellect!. But the intellect fails to recognize that everything in the earth bubble is "causes" by what is actually out side the bubble!. Earth as a context includes the content of earth's gravitational field which would have to consider the sun, and the positioning of the surrounding stars within the galaxy as well as positioning of other galaxies and so on!.
Causality/cause and effect arbitrarily select points in a sequence and label one a "cause" and the other "effect" and fail to consider all other points in the sequence!. Thus failure to address the "cause" of the cause is it limitation, which would have to consider the entire combined history of the universe!. Because the mind is too limited to deal with that bulk of data it relies on dualistic concepts that separate subject and object and fail to recognize context from content!.
"When the lens of perception are cleared, everything is seen as is, Infinite!." - William Blake
All things exists as the content of the universe!. So much as a minute thought contributes to the collective whole!. Free Will is our escape route out of the limitations of confinement, such as chemical addictions, material dependence, as well as intellectual and existential paradoxes!. We all have the Free Will to chose what we want to serve!. We can serve ourselves, others, our ego, desires, or something greater than ourselves, whether you call it God or not!.Www@QuestionHome@Com