This question is not new. It is actually quite famous. Some way or the other we all have asked ourselves this question.
The question is similar to the dramatic question of "is everything written?" Or what is happening and has happened was a series of random incidents.
This is a fundamental question of physics and philosophy both. Some scientists like Einstein were proponents of deterministic universe. Now let me explain what I understand by deterministic universe. It means that given a state of a system and having the knowledge of the laws that govern that system, we can predict exactly and precisely what is going to happen next. Let us consider a simple example to illustrate this. Suppose I have a tennis ball with me. And in front of me there is a wall with several circular marks with different numbers on them. To make the experiment more simple let the ball be thrown by a machine such as a catapult. Now the question is can I predetermine which numbered mark will the ball hit? Well I know the catapult's spring constant so I know with what force the ball will be projected. I know the catapult's orientation with respect to wall. And I know the viscous force that is going to oppose the motion. So by knowing all this any high school student can work out what is going to happen next. That means which mark will the ball hit. Now this is a very simple situation. Now the whole world or say the universe is composed of such uncountable number of system and much much more complex system. But given the complete understanding of the universe or as physicist like to call it the grand unified theory. Can we predict what is exactly going to happen next? By principle we can, IF WE BELIEVE IS DETERMINISM. That is what is meant by this term. That means we still don't have the knowledge of the laws and intelligence or technology to comprehend such huge number complex systems, but in principle it must be possible and thus for a given state the next state is predestined and that is exact and no alternative can occur. That is what people mean by determinism. That even the thoughts we are having is also deterministic if we know exactly how the brain and thinking works. In other word's I can say that what ever has happened, ought to happen and there was no stopping it and what ever is going to happen is already written from the moment our universe was created. It was decided that I would write this post from the moment of big bang and so was every other event. This is determinism.
Now randomness is another side of the coin and many people are strong believers of it and they have a lot of evidence too. This concept suggests that though some incidents can be predetermined to a large degree of accuracy but many fundamental phenomenon especially the microscopic ones cannot be determined precisely. This concept is basically of quantum mechanics. And it all started with the famous uncertainty principle of Heisenberg. This basically rule out determinism by saying that if we know the position of a particle precisely then we cannot know the state of motion or velocity of the particle precisely and vice versa. In short we cannot know precisely know the complete state of a particle and hence cannot predict what is going to happen next. This is the fundamental principle upon which quantum mechanics is based. This theory says the the location of a small particle like electron is not defined. It says that occurence of many events like if our previews experiment was minitiarised and in place of a ball we would have used an electron then even if we maintain some conditions and electron would hit different places at different times and it was totally random which one it would hit and it could not be determined where it would hit exactly. Although this theory does suggest that we can calculate the probability of hitting ceretain places. Especially microscopic systems follow quantum mechanics and till now all experiments have proved the validity of quantum mechanics.
In short I can say that if we perform an experiment exactly the same way with exact same condition, determinism says that same result would be obtained and randomness says that different results would be obtained.
Now the occurrence of many events in universe is governed by microscopic phenomenon and hence quantum mechanics and randomness pervades there. So in the large pìcure we can qualitatively visualize that not everything is predetermined and there are many such alternatives by which the universe could have existed.
Now the question is which concept is right?Well by evidence it has been seen that determinism applies to macroscopic phenomenon but randomness to microscopic systems like atoms and subatomic particles. But you may ask that since I said that tests of quantum mechanics have always been successful so universe consisting of such a number of systems should be random. But Einstein, one of the leading opponent of quantum mechanics, have given an interesting argument. He says that the experiments and result that proves the validity of quantum mechanics may seem like random but there is a still deeper layer of understanding that governs these so called random results. Like tossing of a coin. Though, to us, it may seem like a random experiment but we know that if we have the details about the coin's mass, force we have applied and viscosity of air and landing distance, elasticity of surface then we can very aptly determine the outcome. So though it seems random but by more in depth understanding it is actually a deterministic experiment. This was Einstein's analogy.
So again the question arises, what to believe?
There is another thing I want to share, it might throw some insight into this question.
Anthropic principle is a very reassuring and quite speculative idea that is rapidly growing. It states that the universe had evolved in such a way and the properties of things in this universe is designed in such a way that it gives rise to intelligent beings like us to understand it and question about it. Because after all we are not just in the universe, we ARE the universe and through us the universe is trying to understand itself. Like brain in a body. So anthropic principle rules out all the other universes that could have existed by randomness theory.
Now what is my contention? I really don't have to make up my mind for that. I like determinism because it to gives meaning to the search for a complete theory of everything. Also I like to believe in anthropic principle. On the other hand I like randomness because it REALLY gives us free will. In deterministic universe, free will is an illusion because everything is predetermined. And also randomness gives possibilities for alternate timeliness hence time travel and parallel universes are possible.
You may comment on what you believe and try to convince me. Point out if I made any mistake please.
Now randomness is another side of the coin and many people are strong believers of it and they have a lot of evidence too. This concept suggests that though some incidents can be predetermined to a large degree of accuracy but many fundamental phenomenon especially the microscopic ones cannot be determined precisely. This concept is basically of quantum mechanics. And it all started with the famous uncertainty principle of Heisenberg. This basically rule out determinism by saying that if we know the position of a particle precisely then we cannot know the state of motion or velocity of the particle precisely and vice versa. In short we cannot know precisely know the complete state of a particle and hence cannot predict what is going to happen next. This is the fundamental principle upon which quantum mechanics is based. This theory says the the location of a small particle like electron is not defined. It says that occurence of many events like if our previews experiment was minitiarised and in place of a ball we would have used an electron then even if we maintain some conditions and electron would hit different places at different times and it was totally random which one it would hit and it could not be determined where it would hit exactly. Although this theory does suggest that we can calculate the probability of hitting ceretain places. Especially microscopic systems follow quantum mechanics and till now all experiments have proved the validity of quantum mechanics.
In short I can say that if we perform an experiment exactly the same way with exact same condition, determinism says that same result would be obtained and randomness says that different results would be obtained.
Now the occurrence of many events in universe is governed by microscopic phenomenon and hence quantum mechanics and randomness pervades there. So in the large pìcure we can qualitatively visualize that not everything is predetermined and there are many such alternatives by which the universe could have existed.
Now the question is which concept is right?Well by evidence it has been seen that determinism applies to macroscopic phenomenon but randomness to microscopic systems like atoms and subatomic particles. But you may ask that since I said that tests of quantum mechanics have always been successful so universe consisting of such a number of systems should be random. But Einstein, one of the leading opponent of quantum mechanics, have given an interesting argument. He says that the experiments and result that proves the validity of quantum mechanics may seem like random but there is a still deeper layer of understanding that governs these so called random results. Like tossing of a coin. Though, to us, it may seem like a random experiment but we know that if we have the details about the coin's mass, force we have applied and viscosity of air and landing distance, elasticity of surface then we can very aptly determine the outcome. So though it seems random but by more in depth understanding it is actually a deterministic experiment. This was Einstein's analogy.
So again the question arises, what to believe?
There is another thing I want to share, it might throw some insight into this question.
Anthropic principle is a very reassuring and quite speculative idea that is rapidly growing. It states that the universe had evolved in such a way and the properties of things in this universe is designed in such a way that it gives rise to intelligent beings like us to understand it and question about it. Because after all we are not just in the universe, we ARE the universe and through us the universe is trying to understand itself. Like brain in a body. So anthropic principle rules out all the other universes that could have existed by randomness theory.
Now what is my contention? I really don't have to make up my mind for that. I like determinism because it to gives meaning to the search for a complete theory of everything. Also I like to believe in anthropic principle. On the other hand I like randomness because it REALLY gives us free will. In deterministic universe, free will is an illusion because everything is predetermined. And also randomness gives possibilities for alternate timeliness hence time travel and parallel universes are possible.
You may comment on what you believe and try to convince me. Point out if I made any mistake please.
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