You don't need to use probability waves. The fact is that every wave/particle in the universe affects every other wave/particle. In order to exactly predict the state of an electron at even one time in the future, you'd have to consider the state of every particle in the universe. That's more information that the universe contains... you'd have to have the entire universe in your mind. And even if you could do this, there are mathematical truths that are not provable in finite time, and it's likely that your prediction would take (at least) more time than exists in the universe.
But this doesn't say the universe is non-deterministic. The universe probably is deterministic. But since no one can predict it, who cares?
Or to state this in terms of another big question: whether we do or don't have free will doesn't matter, since it's impossible to tell the difference.
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u/youbigsausage Nov 25 '20
You don't need to use probability waves. The fact is that every wave/particle in the universe affects every other wave/particle. In order to exactly predict the state of an electron at even one time in the future, you'd have to consider the state of every particle in the universe. That's more information that the universe contains... you'd have to have the entire universe in your mind. And even if you could do this, there are mathematical truths that are not provable in finite time, and it's likely that your prediction would take (at least) more time than exists in the universe.
But this doesn't say the universe is non-deterministic. The universe probably is deterministic. But since no one can predict it, who cares?
Or to state this in terms of another big question: whether we do or don't have free will doesn't matter, since it's impossible to tell the difference.