Jorsher

The theory (known as determinalism, which I didn't know until this thread) doesn't say anything about everyone reacting the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determinism

I wish someone that was good with putting the concept in layman's terms would explain.

A person's chemical makeup does not matter, their atoms still have to follow physics. If one atom hit another in the exact same way, it'll produce the exact same results. I don't know jack ---- about quantum physics, but I do know that everything that occurs follows the basic principal of one thing transferring energy to another and can be solved with mathematical equations. AFAIK, we can't get 100% accurate predictions of how the smallest pieces of matter will react with each other, but it's because we would need to measure everything with infinite accuracy which we obviously can't do.

I'm not saying we will ever be able to predict things with 100% accuracy, because I truly don't believe we ever will, but I believe it's theoretically possible. A measurement that's 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000001 units off at the quantum level will make a big difference in the big scheme of things.

Things don't "just happen" and thoughts don't just randomly come into your head. Yes, everyone will react differently because nobody has any semblance of the same life experience. Something as small as 0.00000001 degree of temperature, or calorie, or extra atom of oxygen will ultimately change the outcome of their life/thoughts/reactions. Everything is governed by the same laws of physics though, and if it were possible to measure things to 100% accuracy, you would be able to compute their reactions.

It's really hard to explain. Someone who knows what I'm trying to explain, summarize please

What's really weird, is that "life" is just the transfer of energy from one atom to another.

The concept of "time" is also an interesting thing to think about while tripping.

"randomness" and "free will" is just an illusion.

I googled "does randomness exist" and found a lot of threads talking about the same thing. The general consensus is that no, it does not exist, we just call things we aren't capable of predicting "random." Things only seem random to us when we are incapable of explaining why it happened, but it only proves our limitations and not the existence of random.

sexyblackcrx

Its not even worth dwelling on to much, im just going to go back to thinking i have free will because its so much easier to deal with. I do like to discuss this kind of ---- when im high though

Jorsher

One more "random" thought before bed for those that understand the whole determinism thing:

Are people actually "guilty" of the crimes they commit if free will doesn't exist?

No, I'm not saying that criminals shouldn't be taken from society. Obviously a serial killer in jail (or dead) is better than one on the street, but should they be punished for things they had no free will over? Being that the person and their actions is merely a product of their environment, would the contributing factors that created their inescapable path be guilty as well?

The big bang is guilty of my speeding ticket If it blew up with just a miniscule variation, I may not have committed the crime...or possibly wouldn't exist.

This ---- is wiggidy wack yo

idiot-stick

Here's another way to try and explain it. Take a snapshot of every subatomic particle in the brain. Then, take another an infinitely small amount of time later. With this data, you would know the speed/direction of each of those subatomic particles and what the next snapshot would look like. With that data, you could also project the next, the next, etc. (Of course this wouldnt be a complete picture because matter/energy outside the brain could affect whats inside the brain but this is just an example.)

So, now for each bit of matter, you will know it's path and interactions with other bits of matter. There is no room for a person to "will" something to happen. To do so would defy physics.

Say you could project your will onto your brain chemistry, that means you are defying physics. If free will was real, you would be able to move objects with your mind...same thing...imposing your will on matter.

idiot-stick

it's also impossible to know for 100% fact that the refrigerator light turns off when you close the door. It's impossible to know that your cat's don't play the piano when you are at work.

It will probably continue to be impossible as computers have to abide by the same laws of physics as the matter it would be observing for one and the computing power required would be stupid crazy unbelievable.

by the time said computer was able to look 10 seconds into the future, it would HAVE to take a bare minimum of 10 seconds would have had to elapse.

Tom-Guy

I hope this thread randomly dies.