Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ fate

[tessaract]

alright so this is why i believe in fate

everyone is born in a different environment. This environment influences you to think a certain way. Theres so many different factors to mention to determine how a person thinks, think about it what on earth brought you to this post...action and reaction. You learn from the people around you and events that you recognize from the world around you. Whatever thought you had in the past determines what thought you will have in the future. Sad to say I unfortunately believe life is one big math equation.

[scherzo]

IT is your destiny



huge debates on genetics vs enviroment. The main factor of wishing to believe 'fate, destiny, etc' is controlled by genetics is it escapes liability from others

[Stasi]

I think the OP was referring more to an established set of world/individual variables that, were we more sophisticated, could quantify everything - derive future action for past and present quantities and values. I agree... I don't believe that fate is determined by a God-being, rather it is the fact that there is no such thing as a random event (with POSSIBLE exceptions existing in the realm of subatomic theoretical physics), and as such, if every variable, every piece of knowledge could be contained in a single system, the future could be known.

[Red Squirrel]

You know it to be true.

[manadren]

Moving this to the Debates section.

While I do agree that much of a person's future actions could be predicted if you had enough knowledge of the person's genetic makeup and social background, I think there is still an element in the human will which can, and will on occasions, defy those predictions.

In other words, with enough information, you can paint a good picture of a person's future with broad strokes, but you will never be able to get all the fine details.

[Bookworm]

and as such, if every variable, every piece of knowledge could be contained in a single system, the future could be known.

Yep, that's how God knows it.

[Chris Vogel]

Yep, that's how God knows it. 

He tends to be rather tight-lipped.


I’ve actually been thinking about this subject all day, because I had nothing better to do at work. I think the future could theoretically be known, but there’s so much data to process, some of which would be altered simply by observation. A rapidly expanding civilization in a rapidly expanding universe would need to keep track of rapidly expanding data, and I don’t know if processing power would scale fast (or rapidly! ) enough.

My head hurts.

[Stasi]

Yep, that's how God knows it. 

I think the future could theoretically be known, but there’s so much data to process, some of which would be altered simply by observation.

Yup, you nailed it. You'd have to have all information about everything contained in a single system that could then calculate the future for you, which will never happen. It's all theoretical, but quite fascinating nonetheless.

[flowergirlajg]

nice first post by tesseract eh? And boredom brought me to this post.

[Chris Vogel]

nice first post by tesseract eh?

Yeah. I do hope he comes back.

[scherzo]

every piece of knowledge could be contained in a single system, the future could be known.

yes okay, this is true in the pursuit of 'knowing the future' however would the future be so clear after successful achivement of this super variable computer? i.e. wouldn't knowing the future affect your dicisions? or put it better, after you have created the thing that predicts the future, would it predict what you decide to do next now that you have made the computer.

pyscologists would say the prediction allone would affect your decisions, and therefore no matter how much technology or math is put into the machine, it would be no different than listening to an 'oricale or profet' - no more than a 'magic machine'

[tessaract]

well i guess it all comes down to choice...would you want to know the future and risk that future? or just live life as it is? you would need to start off with 2 magic computers. one computer to show the life you would of had and one computer to show the life you are going to have. But now that you have seen the life your going to have that starts a whole new change of thought and fate. And this is why i believe there will be no such thing as this magic computer that tells you exactly what your fate is going to be but who knows maybe there will be a computer that makes an educated guess lol. Some things will never be known and thats just the way it is.

[Stasi]

every piece of knowledge could be contained in a single system, the future could be known.

yes okay, this is true in the pursuit of 'knowing the future' however would the future be so clear after successful achivement of this super variable computer? i.e. wouldn't knowing the future affect your dicisions? or put it better, after you have created the thing that predicts the future, would it predict what you decide to do next now that you have made the computer.

pyscologists would say the prediction allone would affect your decisions, and therefore no matter how much technology or math is put into the machine, it would be no different than listening to an 'oricale or profet' - no more than a 'magic machine'

There was an "if" in the sentence from which you pulled that statement... a big "if" Quite frankly, I don't believe that it is possible to contain all knowledge in a single system. Only a god could do that, but the existence of such a being is still a mystery.

[manadren]

every piece of knowledge could be contained in a single system, the future could be known.

yes okay, this is true in the pursuit of 'knowing the future' however would the future be so clear after successful achivement of this super variable computer? i.e. wouldn't knowing the future affect your dicisions? or put it better, after you have created the thing that predicts the future, would it predict what you decide to do next now that you have made the computer.

pyscologists would say the prediction allone would affect your decisions, and therefore no matter how much technology or math is put into the machine, it would be no different than listening to an 'oricale or profet' - no more than a 'magic machine'

Yeah, a kind of psychological uncertainty principle. You could never know for sure what is going to happen in the future, because in the act of observing it, you change it. You would have to be completely separated from the system to know for sure. The religious might argue that god fills this role. But since I'm not religious, I'd say it's impossible.

[scherzo]

every piece of knowledge could be contained in a single system, the future could be known.

yes okay, this is true in the pursuit of 'knowing the future' however would the future be so clear after successful achivement of this super variable computer? i.e. wouldn't knowing the future affect your dicisions? or put it better, after you have created the thing that predicts the future, would it predict what you decide to do next now that you have made the computer.

pyscologists would say the prediction allone would affect your decisions, and therefore no matter how much technology or math is put into the machine, it would be no different than listening to an 'oricale or profet' - no more than a 'magic machine'

There was an "if" in the sentence from which you pulled that statement... a big "if" Quite frankly, I don't believe that it is possible to contain all knowledge in a single system. Only a god could do that, but the existence of such a being is still a mystery.

my mis quote was unintentional, only used to point out the irony or catch 22 that can be observed.

In truth these types of calculations and patterns and statistics are used very often. a predictable future is stable and stability leads to investment and growth.

it might just be that by building a future machine we are comitted to its prediction, to vary from its path would lead to instability and all other varibles would also react, causing the machine to 'crash'