Determinism vs indeterminism

adrianopolis

Logically, doesn't it seem rediculous to postulate that the past "could have" occurred differently than the way it did, as if choices were being made by something outside of the governance of causality?

adrianopolis

Is there something I need to understand about time that would make the question less cut and dry?

ModusPwnd

No, I dont think so. Thats not logic, thats your intuition or belief.

adrianopolis

Can you justify your logic as to why there part of nature is disconnected from causality?

Also by your logic why did the past happen the way it did as opposed to some other way?

I guess your response would be something to do with randomness which is a cop out in my opinion because it means causality has to be abandoned on the small scale. Why is it accepted that causality does not govern? How would that make sense to people?

Vorde

This really isn't physics, there used to be a philosophy board but alas it is gone. This'll probably be moved or locked, but until then....

I am a determinist. It is my firm believe that the entire universe behaves like a complicated quantum clock.

That being said, two things need to be made abundantly clear:

1. The OP keeps referencing 'making sense'. We already know that the universe does not behave like we think it should. Our common sense and what we think 'should happen' does not apply here.
2. My belief on the determinism of the universe is based off a single axiom: everything that can be affected or affect the universe follows a set of physics similar to what we use today (I'd like to say "is a QFT", but I don't have the background for that).

The important thing here is that it is quite possible to disagree with that argument, and if you disagree with that axiom, then you can quite easily conclude the universe is non deterministic - or at least not uniquely so.

Vanadium 50

Sorry...this isn't physics.