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Fate.

 Take the double slit experiment.  When a stream of electrons is passed through these double slits (one at a time), a diffraction pattern is seen (with enough iterations).  This pattern is consistent with a wave passing through two slits.  However, we don't know which slit it went through to get there.  So, we set up an experiment to test it by observing one  of the slits to see if the electron passes through that one.  All of a sudden, the diffraction pattern disappears!  Nothing else in the experiment was changed; only an observation of one of the slits! Yet once this is done, the results have changed.

 Now look at this from the point of view of the electron.  It is 'free' when unobserved.  That is, it has the freedom to go through either slit, and somehow (although we do not yet know the why of this) it ends up behaving like a wave.  But as soon as it is observed, it loses its freedom.  The act of observation *removes* the freedom of the electron.  Likewise, the fact that we live in an observable universe means that the constituents of the universe are not free;  there is a rule to their behavior.  When there are rules that govern the behavior of the matter of the universe, that means that everything that happens in the universe is caused by what happened before it.   Applied to biological creatures, us, that means that everything that we do is a function of some large number of variables, including previous state of the system, stimuli on the sensory organs, chemical (in)balance, etc.  However, the large number of variables does not make it less of a function; the same input begets the same output.



Please, PLEASE do NOT feed the trolls.
fksumot tag: "Sheik had to become a man to be useful. Or less useful. Might depend if you're bi."

--Predictions--
1) WiiFit will outsell the pokemans.
  Current Status: 2009.01.10 70k till PKMN Yellow (Passed: Emerald, Crystal, FR/LG)