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From: rob@osiris.UUCP (Robert St. Amant)
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: Determinism
Message-ID: <255@osiris.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 24-Apr-85 16:17:36 EST
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Posted: Wed Apr 24 16:17:36 1985
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>     Thus, macroscopic events are unpredictable, nondeterministic, just
>     as microscopic ones are. At every causal junction, there is inherent
>     acausality.

The subject of determinism has come up several times in this discussion,
and I have seen no one challenge the assertion that nondeterminism holds.
Well, here I go.

Notice in the quoted article "unpredictable, nondeterministic. . ."
These ideas aren't related in this way.  Unpredictability of events
doesn't imply nondeterminism (obviously.)  I don't think that's the only
point, though.

I thought that special relativity provided the answer to the determinism/
nondeterminism argument.  I can't post a good, complete (short!) argument
for determinism, but I'll try if someone wants to see it.  One thing to
think about is this:  (courtesy of Hilary Putnam)

". . .I define an event to be Absolutely Future if the statement that it
has the property P. . .has no truth value. [Hilary has earlier argued that
one effect of nondeterminism is that future events have no truth value.]
I define an event to be Absolutely Present if it is not Absolutely Future
and if every event that is in its proper future. . .is Absolutely Future.
Then two events are Absolutely Simultaneous if and only if there is a
time. . .at which they are both Absolutely Present."

And absolute simultaneity contradicts relativity.

				Rob St. Amant