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November 11th, 2008 by Sean Uncertainty vs. Determinism

Happy 11-11! And now for something completely different…

If you study philosophy, then you are familiar with the collection of beliefs that fall under the label of “Determinism”. Determinism states that everything in the world is simply cause and effect, and we can predict the future with 100% accuracy if we know the position of every little thing involved. We just have to apply the math, and calculate the result. The ability to “make decisions” is simply an illusion - your decisions aren’t an exercise of free-will, they are just the results of all the different chemicals in your head, and electricity bouncing around.

Determinism is anti-intuitive, because when we make decisions, it feels like we are making a choice. It doesn’t feel like our choice is just a result of the different neurons in our brain, and chemicals pumping through our blood stream. It feels like we are genuinely making a conscious decision - that we have free-will.

The argument of Free-Will vs. Determinism is a popular amoung philosophers. I don’t think I’ll be able to solve the riddle with this post, but I do believe that quantum physics provides us with a framework for making the argument for free-will, based on our scientific understanding of reality.

“God does not play dice with the Universe.” - Albert Einstein, arguing in favor of Determinism.

Einstein, like many scientists at the time, believed that reality was deterministic. He believed that scientists would eventually be able to figure out every math formula for how things work, and given enough knowledge, could calculate the exact future. What instigated Einstein to make such an argument in the first place, was the Copenhager interpretation of quantum physics, and the Uncertainty principle.

Prior to the discovery of quantum physics, it was hard to make the case for free-will. Sir Isaac Newton showed us that objects in reality move according to mathmatical formulas. When you throw a ball in the air, it has a parabolic curve, and we can plot the location of the ball, and predict where it will land. Sure, there are unknown processes in the world that still needed to be discovered, but it was believed that it was just a matter of time before we had a formula for everything.

The Uncertainty principle changed that. It’s discovery told us that we could never reach the holy-land of Determinism. We could never learn all the formulas, and predict the future with 100% accuracy, because reality wouldn’t let us. Uncertainty wasn’t due to our ignorance - it was hard-coded into reality itself.

While scientists try to remain objective, one couldn’t help but see the philisophical implications. If Uncertainty is true, then reality isn’t deterministic, and there just might be room for free-will in the laboratory. If free-will does exist, then it is exercised inside the realm of quantum physics. And if we have free-will, then consciousness must operate on a quantum level.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Philosophy, Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

### 6 Responses to “Uncertainty vs. Determinism”

1. PotentiaL Says:
   November 12th, 2008 at 2:36 pm

   Good post Sean!

   Check this clip out from the film “Waking Life”…

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VxQuPBX1_U

2. Faust Says:
   November 14th, 2008 at 11:39 pm

   Hmmm interesting, I wonder if psi phenomenon glitch reality….

3. fruo Says:
   November 20th, 2008 at 8:28 pm

   I myself am a fan of Determinism. I actually came up with the theory myself before I knew someone else had come up with it, and it coincides perfectly with what you described it as. That is because I dislike Uncertainty. I think that everything works like Newton said, a clock that was set in motion by God. It follow rules.
   Maybe scientists haven’t discovered all the rules of quantum physics, and maybe there is a rule that is always applicable and changes things in a specific, but because we don’t know it, we think that this randomness is a result of Uncertainty.

   I agree. It really is hard to put Determinism up against Free Will, because it makes you sound less special. When you make your decisions, you might start thinking it doesn’t matter because of determinism. So you might be giving up Free Will as you think that. The way I cope with it is just accept Determinism and try exerting as much Free Will, be it there or not, in my decisions.

   About psi, maybe there is that quantum rule that just throws us off for now, making us think that there is that randomness, and maybe that is somehow responsible for psi and/or the consciousness.

4. Antisankari Says:
   November 21st, 2008 at 7:20 pm

   Then again, didn’t the aging Einstein also claim something like:

   From: Albert Einstein
   To: Eric Gutkind
   Date: January 3, 1954
   Topic: Letter to philosopher Eric Gutkind,
   ”
   The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.
   ”

   http://atheism.about.com/od/einsteingodreligion/tp/Einstein-on-a-Personal-God.htm

   And link for the source askers.

5. polymer Says:
   November 28th, 2008 at 3:52 pm

   umm, how did that post relate to his attitude towards probability? Were you responding to the fact that he used god in a way that seems contradictory? He used the word interchangeably with a specific deity and with whatever driving force there was behind the system. So that’s besides the point…

   Also, the mathematics developed to explain the world dealt with volumes and probability since there’s a large enough amount of atoms that the error gets rounded off. The word Dice in Einstein’s quote refers quite literally to the nature of the math that was used to explain the system.

   Uncertainty principle deals with really tiny things. What I determined from this is that our conscience isn’t necessarily quantum and therefor free-willed, rather our conscience has to be quantum in order to be free willed.

   subtle but important difference, fun post nonetheless.

6. Psikillion Says:
   December 9th, 2008 at 1:50 am

   I believe in a mix of both Determinism and Uncertainty. It is difficult to explain, and I am afraid that if I were to type it out it would appear as absolute jibberish (because it is one of those things I just know somehow).

   In oppositione (of Sean’s article) Determinism cannot be ruled out due to the fact we can never learn all of the formulas, because who says that we are not the only ones out there? Who knows maybe there is a deity out there that made all of the universe and knows everything? We are only a variable in a vast program. If Determinism does not exist than how come people can do precognition with fairly good results? I personally have done some precog recently and consider myself fairly accurate.

   Also Sean don’t you remember the Math.Random(); in Java? It takes the time and turns it into a random number, so if you could use it at the exact same time as another computer then you would get the same number. Could it be possible everything could be like Math.Random();?

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