Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!tektronix!tekecs!andrew
From: andrew@tekecs.UUCP (Andrew Klossner)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: the case against identical universes
Message-ID: <1913@tekecs.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 24-Aug-83 16:44:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: tekecs.1913
Posted: Wed Aug 24 16:44:42 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 26-Aug-83 05:55:41 EDT
References: ihlpf.189
Lines: 36


	"Imagine two parallel universes such that at some instant in
	time all the objects, all the atoms, all the quarks, etc., etc.
	are moving in an identical fashion in both universes.  I claim
	that these universes would remain identical for all eternity."

There's this bizarre little rule in modern physics called the
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which states that it is impossible in
principle to nail down the exact position and velocity of any particle.
The closer you determine the position, the less you know about the
velocity, and vice versa.  This is not just a problem with the
mechanics of observation, but is considered to be a fundamental.

One of the implications is that it is meaningless to say that two
universes are identical.  Not only is it impossible to make this
determination, but the word "identical" is meaningless in the same way
that "simultaneous" is meaningless under relativity.

	"It seems to me that each universe would remain in "synch"
	forever.  This seems then to imply that given the state of the
	universe at any point in time, the future is entirely
	deterministic.  This would include the actions caused by any
	cognition in the universe."

It sounds as though you're one step from the "no free will" argument,
which states (briefly) that, since the future is entirely determined,
it is nonsense to believe that you can make a choice between two
actions; one of them is going to happen and you have no choice.  It
then follows that we cannot blame you for your actions, since you had
no choice.

We free-will advocates breathed a sigh of relief when we found out
about Heisenberg.

  -=- Andrew Klossner  (decvax!tektronix!tekecs!andrew)  [UUCP]
                       (andrew.tektronix@rand-relay)     [ARPA]