Okay, in no way do I claim this as my own idea. I read a lot of sci-fi books and this is something I kind of put together from different ideas found in these books. I'm NOT saying no one else has had this idea before or anything.

Lets start with an example.

Every time you flip a coin you have a 50/50 chance that it will land on one side of the other, and if you really think about it, theres a chance it could land straight up and down. What exactly makes this random? As far as I can tell it would be our lack of knowledge of all the factors that go into that coin flip or human ignorance. Therefore it would follow that IF we knew everything behind the flip we could predict which side it would land on. Everytime. This takes into account that you know everything about every flip. Some people are probably actually capable of doing this, much like they would be capable of making a 'hole in one' at the putt putt course. But now I'm getting of subject.

Now for fate.
If you knew every atoms location, how exactly they move, what all the factors are that go into that movement, then reaonably you could run your numbers and predict the next move. Much like the coin everything would have to go to that next location, not out of randomness or anthing, but because thats the way it moves. It just works that way. Of course nothing seems to work out quite like that.

IF this were true then everything would be set in motion, with only one path to go. This could be good or bad, depending on your beliefs and such. It would mean no free will, just a bunch of numbers working out like they do. Makes you wonder about all the times you did something seemingly without any reason...

I know this 'theory' is flawed,
Mainly because there may not be a reason why atoms do what they do, or one to take it a step further the pieces that make up atoms.

Give me your ideas, opinions, or just flat out crush this little theory.

I actualy thought of that years ago. I was so terified by the thought that everything is predestined I tried my hardest not to think about it.

We all know how well that works.

Quantum uncertinty was what put my mind at ease. Basicly at the quantum level (which includes but is not limited to 6 dimensional reality) things are truly random, and these minute bits of randomness exert a subtle influnce over our reality, and over time the effects of this randomness multiply.

An example would be the randomness of a Carbon 14 atom decaying at a given time. It could not decay, or it could. If it was part of a plant and it did decay it could exert a genetic mutation. Etc...

I just hope that this is the case, because I have better things to lay awake at night woried over.

I was hoping someone would say just that. (Not the losing sleep part)

I believe atoms are a lot like the coin example, we think they are random just because we don't yet fully understand everything behind them. I did take a chemistry course a few years back and to use the exact words of my proffesor "Nobody really understands quantum physics". But that was three years ago, so if anythings changed please tell me.

Finally, don't lose sleep over an idea. Free will may actually be the cause of all this randomness and unexplainable crap. You think therfore it becomes maybe?

p.s.
That last thought is really scary...

This article from discover magizine actualy discusses the issues of quantum physics, multiple realities, and free will. I ask you all to read it.

I guess it gets into how you define free will. If everything you will do could be predicted but no one could do it, would you be free? But anyway, I have an answer for you:

The problem with predicting an electron's (not an atom's) movements is that the electron can be in an infinite amount of places at any time. Without even taking into consideration the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle, we only know where the electron will be 90% of the time. The other 10% it could be almost anywhere. Now, with the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle we know even less. The only way you can observe an electron, or any object, is either by some sense. You either have to touch it or see it to measure it's speed and location. Just doing this (touching it provides force as does hitting it with photons) changes everything.

There are so many factors that go into it all. NO ONE can do it. There only way you could do it would be to take into account EVERY OBJECT in the entire universe. From then you'd be able to predict their next move(if you can measure all those things, surely you have an algorithm to predict where they will go). It's not that we don't understand fully, it's just that we can't.

What would you consider free will? There is an argument for any answer to that question.

I've often thought, with enough data and processing power, nearly anything can be predicted. Imagine feeding terabytes of data regarding the human brain into a computer, then simulating the effects of some new drug, based on chemical properties and such. I think it would work to a certain extent.

I certainly believe one could build a machine that would flip coins perfectly every time. The coin would have to be measured and checked for wear every so often, the servos/springs would have to be calibrated, factors such as wind would have to be measured or eliminated. I'm not sure if something odd like earth's rotation would foul the results, but one could compensate for that. The problem occurs when one reaches a certain scale. Sub-molecular changes don't appreciably affect a flipping coin. Neutrinoes (sp?) fluxing in and out don't make a difference. In the right circumstances, though, things like that can change the outcome, and true randomness occurs.

Or, I could just be plain wrong. I figure there's a 29% chance of that...

Actualy flipping a coin wouldn't be hard to determine. All that is needed is to know how long the coin will be in the air (a relitivly simple formula), the rate of rotation of the coin (determinable by force applied) and the rate at which that rotation slows. Simple realy.

My brother can flip coins acuratly about 95% of the time, it's not that difficult.

Sorta ties in with a post I made awhile back.. But I feel that our pths are not engraved in stone. With anything possible, and everything happening, amist the chaos that flips that coin, there is no room for an assured couse of action.

i read the article posted, and found it very interesting... but i didn't find that it delved right into fate... if this multiple world thing is true... wouldn't we all have a complete path set out for us, considering that we have to take every path possible?

That's probably what the parallel universes does for us. Balances out the spectrum. Consider it like a yin-yang sign, you can't have one without the other. So in the other universe we are doing exactly the opposite of what we are doing now.

And everything in between the opposite.

So then time travel would be dangerous.

In a multiple universe framework the paradox is taken out of time travel.

why would time travel be dangerous, if all the paths are already taken? if your current self doesn't time travel, wouldn't another do it?

although somethings are truly random, you could play the odds to get answers. the more variables you include the more chance you have of being right.

all this is described in asimovs' foundation books (the first one mainly). it was really only to do with groups of people, and it had a number of conditions (they can't know that they are being tested, can't be done on single people etc) attached, but it sounded very reasonable once (if) we get the technology.