Do Subatomic Particles Have Free Will? 608
An anonymous reader sends in a Science News article that begins: "Human free will might seem like the squishiest of philosophical subjects, way beyond the realm of mathematical demonstration. But two highly regarded Princeton mathematicians, John Conway and Simon Kochen, claim to have proven that if humans have even the tiniest amount of free will, then atoms themselves must also behave unpredictably." Standard interpretations of quantum mechanics, of course, embrace unpredictability. But many physicists aren't comfortable with that, and are working to develop deterministic interpretations of quantum mechanics. Conway and Kochen's proof argues that these efforts will be fruitless — unless one is willing to give up human free will, in a very strong sense. The article quotes Conway: "We can really prove that there's no algorithm, no way that the particle can give an answer that is unique and can be specified ahead of time. I'm still amazed that we can actually manage to prove that."
I was destine to post this! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I was destine to post this! (Score:2, Funny)
Now comes the guys destined to mod you down...
Re:Free Will != Unpredictability (Score:4, Funny)
I _knew_ you were going to ask that question.
You are just so predictable.
Re:What do we mean by FREE WILL here? (Score:5, Funny)
(and then getting yourself killed at the next zebra crossing)
You know, for years I thought Douglas Adams was talking about actual animals when he wrote that. Then, not so long ago, I stumbled upon the wikipedia entry [wikipedia.org] about the term for what I always called a "crosswalk".
I think my version was funnier.
Re:Uh, what? (Score:3, Funny)
What does the blue pill taste like? Steak?
It kind of tastes like chicken. In fact, if you take the blue pill, everything tastes like chicken, and vice versa.
Re:Uh, what? (Score:3, Funny)
No, but it makes for an interesting LSD trip.
Re:Not new (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Uh, what? (Score:5, Funny)
Well that's their choice.
Re:Uh, what? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Uh, what? (Score:5, Funny)
This [wikipedia.org] is the fallacy you refer to.
Wikipedia is very, very good on mathematics and logic.
Just hold on a sec......
There.
Now it isn't. The mathematics & logic portion of wikipedia is now, however, a very very good authority on Rick Astley's greatest hits.
Re:Uh, what? (Score:2, Funny)
Or a very disturbing porno.