06 Nov 13
Originally posted by Rajk999But she does acknowledge that not only can one determine their own fate, but that many things which people ascribe to fate are only a result of our own actions.
I guess Sarah Conner does not understand the definition of fate which basically means occurrences caused by events outside our control.
The dictionary I consulted (www.dictionary.com) gives 6 definitions for fate, and this is only the noun form.
Many people think of fate thus:
"All preordained-
A prisoner in chains-
A victim of venomous fate. " -- Rush, Freewill
What they don't often consider is this, from the same song:
"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."
What people consider fate is often just our choice, they just call it fate to avoid the responsibility. But we do have the responsibility of choice, even if we choose not to decide. This is free will.
06 Nov 13
Originally posted by Trev33It wasn't by chance. I'm not aware of a predefined destiny, whatever that is. I suppose it's possible that someone could reduce my decisions to chemistry and predict everything I do before I do it.
Was it your predefined destiny to come into this thread or was it an uncontrolled, my chance occurrence?
07 Nov 13
Originally posted by Trev33Actually there are only two possibilities:
No, they were the only two i could be bothered to type.
1. The universe is fully deterministic.
2. The universe has random inputs.
We all know that the universe does follow some rules, so pure randomness is out of the question.
My coming to this thread was not a 'pure' chance occurrence. There were some prerequisites. The thread first had to exist, the internet had to exist and be working, I had to have access to a computer, etc.
But whether 1. or 2. is the case, I do not know, I only know that 2 has not yet been ruled out and is strongly indicated by quantum mechanics.
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07 Nov 13
Originally posted by twhiteheadThe current physical model of the universe that most closely matches our current scientific observations of the universe, has elements of randomness in it.
Actually there are only two possibilities:
1. The universe is fully deterministic.
2. The universe has random inputs.
We all know that the universe does follow some rules, so pure randomness is out of the question.
My coming to this thread was not a 'pure' chance occurrence. There were some prerequisites. The thread first had to exist, the internet ...[text shortened]... w, I only know that 2 has not yet been ruled out and is strongly indicated by quantum mechanics.
This does not strongly imply that it will always be the case. However, acceptance of an alternative model will require there to be a closer match to our observations than is afforded by the current model.