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From: padraig@utastro.UUCP (Padraig Houlahan)
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: Re: ROSEN vs Wishful Thinkers (?) - (Scientification)
Message-ID: <759@utastro.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 26-Sep-85 13:45:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: utastro.759
Posted: Thu Sep 26 13:45:26 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 30-Sep-85 01:51:39 EDT
References: <253@yetti.UUCP> <1727@pyuxd.UUCP> <690@mmintl.UUCP>
Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX
Lines: 16

> ...  The evidence for
> quantum uncertainty is stronger than just "we can determine no cause".
> This is not the place and I don't have the time to go into it (there was
> a Scientific American article dealing with some of the issues a couple of
> years back).  But if you really believe in determinism, you are being every
> bit as unscientific as the creationists -- the theory is overwhelmingly
> accepted by those in the field.

Quantum mechanics is a theory of measurement. As far as I know it only says
that there are limitations on the precision to which events can be measured,
i.e. there is an uncertainty associated with certain types of measurement.
This is not the same as saying that indeterminism is correct, only that
we can not measure a system and conclude that it is deterministic. The
system may be, but we cannot in practice ascertain that fact.

Padraig Houlahan.


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