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From: rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen)
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: Re: Free Will. Free Lunch. Free Software.
Message-ID: <854@pyuxn.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 13-Jul-84 17:29:51 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxn.854
Posted: Fri Jul 13 17:29:51 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 14-Jul-84 02:34:37 EDT
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Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
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> First of all if you believe in God you probably think all your actions are
> predetermined anyway by Him. Case closed if you're religious.

Not really.  Christians seem to believe that god is omniscient (knows what
was/is/will be happening everywhere), yet they also make a claim for free
will, stating that it is your "choice" based on the actions you "choose"
whether you go to eternal bliss or eternal damnation.  I have yet to hear
a satisfactory explanation for this apparent contradiction.

> According to Maxwell ( I think), if you know the location and motion of
> every particle in a system at one moment then you know the entire history
> and future of that system, if you're sophisticated enough.

According to Heisenberg, you don't.

> Taking it a step further, we will know everything about every organism, most
> importantly, the *exact* function of its brain. We would know more about
> that creature than it would know about itself. Continuing with the logic,
> we would know what it would do in any situation, where it would go, even
> when it would meet its mate and have children.
> The best argument against this theory is that there exists 'free will' in
> life forms. WHERE DID IT COME FROM? Did the physics of the universe form
> free will? I don't think so.

But then, the theory that there exists 'free will' has a few holes in it as
well.
-- 
"Submitted for your approval..."		  Rich Rosen    pyuxn!rlr