Future Is Already Determined?

Question

evidence for a deterministic future:

1. In quantum mechanics, time evolution is symmetric.
2. Bell's Theorem that says either free will is an illusion or the theory of general relativity is false.
3. In general relativity, future already exist and is determined in the 4th dimension.
4. Wheeler De Witt Equation is timeless.

Answer 1

I'm not sure how free will comes into Bell's Theorem.

Bell's Theorem destroyed the local hidden variable hypothesis of QM, effectively showing that particles are not merely statistically represented by a wavefunction, but that before observation they "are" a wavefunction.

Answer 2

The future does not exist.
General relativity does not infer that the future exists - on the contrary, general relativity theories literally fall apart if time is treated as a time line with the present being just a point on the line with the past to the left and the future to the right - the line extending to the right is the future - imaginary and nonexistant at the present.
In quantum mechanics, time evolution is symmetric - AND directional. The very use of the term evolution implies that.
Bell's theorem concerning free will is more philosophy than science.
How can anything be truly "timeless?"
If you really want to know about tomorrow's events, I guess you'll just have to wait until time slowly grinds today away first.

Answer 3

Ever heard of "the butterfly effect"? a butterfly beating its wings in over the pacific ocean can cause a storm in the pacific a few hours or days later, but it can only do it once. Well that's just an exaggeration of the very true idea that things like weather are unpredictable and very unlikely to be deterministic. Maybe that could be generalized.

Answer 4

The future is a result. There are only two possibilities for how results occur - they are a product of the initial system or they are random.

If they are products of the initial system (let go of an apple in a planet's gravity field and the apple is pulled to the ground) then the future is predetermined.

If they are random then the fact that these letters appear to form words is a remarkable coincidence.

One could argue that they are both the product of the initial system and random but there is no mechanism for this to occur.

Answer 5

I fail to see how the items you cite suggest a deterministic future. To the contrary, evidence in support of the Bell Theory seems to suggest uncertainty rather than certainty.

"No physical theory of local hidden variables can ever reproduce all of the predictions of quantum mechanics."

If the local yokel stuff cannot be used to fully predict all the effects of QM, that seems to open the door for all kinds of uncertainty, especially of the far reaching effects (quantum entanglement perhaps).

Answer 6

That would mean no free will.How about a loop of time repeating itself for infinity like every 100 billion years with a big bang.

Answer 7

Anybody from the 4th dimension want to let me in on next weeks lotto numbers?

Answer 8

check out heisenbergs' uncertainty principle.this is possibly a vote for free will.(you cannot know a particles position and speed at the same time).the more you know of one the less the other.

Answer 9

Nope.

Answer 10

interesting. by the way i HATE your avatar