VXIII said:
If you're still around, I was hoping you could explain this sentence, or provide a link about the subject. |
It means that subatomic particles do stuff sometimes which they shouldn't do. Like not travelling on a certain path. You can only calculate the probability of said particles behaving in a certain way. But you can not give a 100% prediction. Particles seem to do what they want. If they would behave strictly causal like a Golfball you could give an exact prediction how they will behave but you can calculate the probability.
http://evolution.mbdojo.com/cosmogony.htm
"First Cause, which states that there can be no effect without a cause. Each event must have been caused by some prior event.
This completely logical sounding argument, which fully agrees with everyday experience, was the basis of Thomas Aquinas's "cosmological proof" of the existence of God. But today we understand the nature of causation a little differently than in the 13th century.
Timothy Ferris, in his book "The Whole Shebang: a State of the Universe Report", says: "The doctrine of causation erodes considerably when applied to the subatomic realm of quantum physics, and therefore seems a dubious tool for understanding the early universe, when virtually all particles were subatomic. (To construct even an atom in the big bang would have been like building a house of cards in a firestorm.)"
Strict causation, (if A then B), is not a concept applied in quantum mechanics (there is a 50% chance of A, and therefore a 50% of B), where the probabilities are said to be inherent in nature and not merely a reflection of our limited knowledge.
"Strictly speaking there seems to be, for instance, no such thing as a "cause" of the radioactive decay of a radium atom.... Similarly, there is in quantum mechanics no such thing as a strict cause of a particular vacuum fluctuation, such as the fluctuation that some versions of inflation theory postulate as the agency of creation... So strict causation may break down both in quantum physics and in considering the origin of the universe. Possibly this is not a coincidence, but a clue that the quantum principle holds the key to understanding genesis." "
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causality_(physics)
Cause and Effect is not flawless, in quantum physics everything is calculated in probabilities there is no 100% way to determin an outcome of a single event. That means its not strictly causal.
