Philosophy Now Forum

i accept the so called butterfly effect, but as hobbes mentioned, the effects of anything on anything else must be proportionate. determining what is and isn't proportionate, however, is another matter. the issue at hand, is the logical possibility or impossibility of absolute predictions. no scient...

logically it is possible to predict (and "compute") anything with absolute certainty and accuracy given the proper capacity and means. This statement is false and any philosopher conversant with mathematical philosophy will confirm that it is false. Boole's laws of thought and treatises o...

Please answer my question. Do you disagree with me when I claim that predicting the rainfall for a specific place on a specific day in the future is a non-computable function? in fact you'll find that any future event is only predictable to a finite order of probability and no future event whatsoev...

How much rainfall can I expect to get on my fuchsias on 28/11/3015? That is a non-computable question because every single event which occurs within 1000 light-years of earth from now on is potentially a casual agent. In fact there is a non-zero probability that the earth will no longer exist on th...

Tell me what you think of the essay I linked to, alpha. hope you didn't bail on me! i need you helping me fight the good fight with leo et al. :) i read almost the whole essay, and even though i didn't completely understand every single part, my overall impression of it isn't too positive. while i ...

How much rainfall can I expect to get on my fuchsias on 28/11/3015? That is a non-computable question because every single event which occurs within 1000 light-years of earth from now on is potentially a casual agent. In fact there is a non-zero probability that the earth will no longer exist on th...

2. deterministic means predictable (even if only logically/theoretically), even according to proponents of chaos theory, as i have quoted. This statement is false. Deterministic does NOT mean predictable. Deterministic merely means that effects are preceded by causes. Chaos theory makes this clear ...

Your problem is that, although you are a determinist, you can't bring this understanding to explain the world around you. You are constantly at odds with everything you see feel and hear. Despite accepting determinism logically you can't figure out how to apply it to the world we live in. I said ab...

I agree fully with that statement, which would be true what ever you might think of free will and determinism. It could not be any other way. that is on which my whole argument is built. since it can't be any other way, then true freewill (that entails actual accountability) is impossible. note tha...

were they caused to be self-determining (self-causal), or they just causelessly became "self-causal"? Can you seriously not see that this question is self-negating? Self-determining systems cause themselves to be self-determining. The most easily understood example is the weather. The wea...

neither is refusing to answer. was "chaotic determinism" caused or uncaused? i know it's not in your best interest to answer, but i'll ask just the same. This has nothing to do with my best interests and I've answered this dozens of times. Chaotic systems are self-causal . If you don't kn...

I think what you said here is problematic- that we could not make any different choices. One of the definitions of choice is deciding between different things. yes, one of the definitions of true choice , not illusory choice. So people have the ability to choose one way or another. it would've been...

the suggestion is nonsensical, yet it's the only conclusion that can be made from your statements. if the current deterministic system was caused to be this way, then it was predetermined; and if it wasn't caused to be this way, then its current deterministicness is uncaused, which as you agreed, i...

The will as delusion is a good argument against an omnipotent force, who pretends to give us free will, but clearly since god has to have known since the beginning of time that I would die a sinner, and in that knowledge he has created me thus- where is free will now? I think you might have this ba...

I agree fully with that statement, which would be true what ever you might think of free will and determinism. It could not be any other way. that is on which my whole argument is built. since it can't be any other way, then true freewill (that entails actual accountability) is impossible. note tha...