Please remember that this is "rough." Rather than wasting time "word smithing" I want to put this out to the community...I welcome your comments (which you can do at the end of this blog).
If you wish to be notified of each "post" I am doing so through my Twitter account 21stPhilosophy The Logo is a Tesseract). If you follow that account (there is a "follow me" button lower down in this post on the right-hand side), you will receive update announcements through the hashtag #QuantumObligation.
Quantum Obligation is an interesting philosophical concept. At this point in its explanation, there is a need to tie physics and mathematics (statistics) into it.
The question at this point is...
Does man have "free will" or the ability to choose?
Free will ultimately rests on the assumption that "randomness" exists...
At this point physics needs to to be interjected...
In Quantum Obligation...There was one and only one random event...that being "the BIG BANG."
This was (is) the moment at which existence changed from a singularity to three dimensions.
Prior to that moment, there was (is) an infinite number of possibilities afforded...all of them had an equal chance of occurring...(Random existed)...
After that instance when the first two quanta moved outward in specific directions, that entire universe was established...with no other possibilities possible...
This means that every event...every grain of sand...the location of the earth in the universe...even the nature of "Pi" (this is another blog) could be explained through a regression equation...that by necessity would trace back to the "BIG BANG."
If the regression equation was sufficiently comprehensive, anything can be predicted with 100% accuracy...
What about a "coin toss?" one may ask...
(NOTE: I used this example for its simplicity, but this could be applied to any event)
On outward appearance that event of series of events appears "random" meaning that the chances of a coin landing on heads or tails is virtually equal...
I contend that with sufficient information, each individual event could be predicted...that is one of my epiphanies of the utter obvious!
If we could take the time to measure the exact mass, the starting position of the coin, the toss forces and location, the resistive forces on the coin, gravitational fluctuations, minute shifts in the mass of the coin (due to atomic motion), etc., we could, with absolute certainty predict heads of tails.
Let's dive a bit deeper...
With a long enough regression equation, we could predict that (or at least) describe the very existence of each atom in the coin...and how they traveled from the singularity...through first generation stars and became metals...and then the star went nova...and the materials traveled across the universe to the earth...and we concentrated and shaped into the coin that is perched on one's thumb, ready for the toss...
You get the picture...
It can all be explained...thus it was determined at the moment of change from the singularity...
This takes randomness out of the three dimensional world...
If there is no randomness...then there is no free will...
An interesting dilemma occurs at this point...
One may contend that if there is no free will...then there is no choice...what happens...will happen and "we" have no control...
Quantum Obligation requires choice...which brings an event from the possible world into existence.
Choice is the act of creation (not unlike the BIG BANG!)
An individual must choose (even though it could be fully explained and is therefore not a choice)...in order to fulfill the event.
Any choice (even the choice not to act) can be explained. Yet it is choice that is the critical component of Quantum obligation.
This appears circular, but I believe that it is not.
The bottom line...
Randomness existed at the moment prior to the BIG BANG...
At the moment of change from a singularity...randomness ceased to exist and all events were established.
Logically...free will does not exist...
Choice however still exists as an event and a precursor to the quantum event or a component of the event itself, even though the choice is predetermined...
The existence of freewill is of little or no importance to Quantum Obligation...the exercise of choice is...
Thoughts?
Addressing Relevant Issues and the Foundational Needs of this Society and the World...in Hope of Leaving it better for our having been here...
OK Phil, I'll bite. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI think we need to define the "Big Bang" further. Was it in itself random, or an ordered event (or series of events) instigated by a higher power?
Looking at this another way: An ant is inspecting an area of his colony that has been physically disturbed. This event could have been random (say, a lightning strike), or an ordered series of events (say, a person digging that area with a shovel, or a backhoe).
I think that this more discrete definition of this "ordering event" is relevant. Your thoughts? (I have mine as to what it was... ;-) )
-Dave
Dave...
ReplyDeleteGood Question and series of thoughts!
The BIG BANG is the exact moment that existence went from a singularity to three dimensions...
If the BANG itself occurred as a result of a higher power, randomness is totally lost...
If it occurred as an event the event by definition was random...
In either case...randomness no longers exists as we would like to believe (at least some of us!)...
A lightening strike is not random. If we could...there is an exact equation that would allow us to describe that event (and predict it from the BIG BANG)...the reason we call it random is because that equation is beyond our comprehension...
I like the "ordering event!" This needs to be included...Allow me to think this one through!
Good Question and thoughts!
Phil
To go back to your coin example. What if the coin landed on its side? Or what if the coin didn't come back down? Or what if it simply dissipated into another dimension of reality. Or better yet, it could have accidentally fell into a black hole and either got stuck in the event horizon or transported through a wormhole.
ReplyDeleteYour decision to this might just create a whole other potential universe of reality parallel to the people who disagree with you.