peter@pzw1.resnet.cornell.edu
Thu, 26 Mar 1998 05:36:09 +0100
Hello,
i see upon perusing recent posts that conversation has again picked up
Quantum mechanics and nonlinear systems, so i'm offering my two cents.
Struan said:
"Heisenbergs destruction of determinism
neither supports nor undermines the notion of free will - if anything
it confuses the issue. If there is no such thing as cause and effect
at a quantum level then how can it exist at any higher level. And if
everything is indeterminate - statistical probability -then how does
this imply free will or any grounds upon which to base a
libertarian system."
first and foremost there is cause and effect at the quantum level. there
is also predictability, and there are all sorts of other wonderful
classical properties which people like to ignore when they talk about the
weirdness of QM. the issue is just what you can try to predict. just
because we call them "statistical probabilities" doesn't mean we can't
predict what's going to happen, and it likewise does not mean that cause
and effect do not exist.
the same situation exists, in a sense, at the classical level. classical
mechanics is predictable, but you are also restricted in what you can
predict. (this is where nonlinear systems/chaos theory comes in.)
regards,
peter
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