Is a Non-Probabilistic Universe Conceivable?

[sixproph3tsix]

Simple question...

The universe is inherently probabilistic because its smallest constituents are inherently probabilistic. Granted.

Is it even possible to conceive of a universe that is not probabilistic? To me, Quantum Mechanics aside, the probabilistic nature of a microscopic cosmos is a necessity based on the simple fact that we (measurement makers) are contained within it /part of it.

Do I need more elaboration? Does this thought make sense?

 

[Jazzdude]

It's not at all clear if the universe is "inherently probabilistic", or if that concept is even applicable to the universe.

Cheers,

Jazz

 

[craigi]

Simple question...

The universe is inherently probabilistic because its smallest constituents are inherently probabilistic. Granted.

Is it even possible to conceive of a universe that is not probabilistic? To me, Quantum Mechanics aside, the probabilistic nature of a microscopic cosmos is a necessity based on the simple fact that we (measurement makers) are contained within it /part of it.

Do I need more elaboration? Does this thought make sense?

Look at it this way.

If you roll a dice a million times. Then you get someone else to do the same but instead of their results, you use some trickery to give them yours. Would they notice? Of course not. Is it random? Nope. It's exactly the same results that you got. Their results are completely deterministic. You're just reading them from a list.

Also, there are many ways you could rearrange and modify that list and they still wouldn't know.

So back to your question - is the universe probabilistic? Probably, but can never know for certain. Nature could be using some kind of psuedo random number generation. There may be an underlying mechanism to the numbers that we get for our probabilistic values.

Does it matter? Well there is a pretty strong argument that the universe that we live in, is actually simulated. If it were the case, perhaps the creators of our universe would have just the same problems with their random number generators as we do ours.

This idea might sound very fantastical but it's not easy to invalidate it. If you're interested, I can run you through the argument if you like.

 

[Evo]

The future of this thread is being discussed.