Okay, so I understand the randomness in quantum mechanics and how it disproves determinism.

But I'm going to try to explain this to my step mom who believes in fate or whatever, and she's going to say "well how do you know the randomness is actually random and not caused by some unknown variable?"


Whats my response to that?

You can't really disprove that. All arguments, no matter what kind, find their initial foundation on nothing but belief. Evidence may lean here or there, but its still just a guess based on patterns, so her opinion is valid to a degree.

Also, she won't listen to your point of view unless she truly wants to understand it. People believe what they want to believe, believe what works for them now, and believe what has worked for them.

Actually nvm I figured it out. It has to do with the bell test experiments

skip to 1:24!

You may also want to check out the GHZ state and Hardy's paradox. I think that those are even more spectacular than Bell's inequalities and also more instructive.

This is a philosophical question.

chaos

Oddly enough, there are some in Science who also take this position (I think I can use that term loosely). They postulate that Every outcome is predetermined albiet sometimes by uncalculated variables. In this view everything that occurs, even your thoughts are the result not of "Choice" but are inevitible outcomes. I personnaly don't subscribe to that position, seems like the ultimate criminal defense "I didn't have a choice, it was predetermined"

he cant prove it so it doesnt make a difference

one can use indeterminacy too "i couldnt make a choice, my mind acts randomly"

This post was edited by Holod on Oct 9 2011 02:21pm

nevermind.


This post was edited by AEtheric on Oct 9 2011 03:35pm