Nature always selects the best alternative and that is unique. Thoughts?

Question

For any process to happen, in Nature, a number of alternatives are available, but the process is complete and stable at the least energy state and that is the best and unique alternative. If a glass of water is poured on the road, nobody has to calculate in which direction it has to flow, how much to be absorbed by the surface, how much to evaporate, how long to flow and where to accumulate etc. If somebody calculates these factors with the available data, it will still be nearest approximation. But Nature makes no mistakes. It takes all possible factors, even those not known to man, into account. The result is unique that cannot happen by any other available alternative. Any comments?

Answer 1

How Newtonian.

Not true at all in the context of modern physics, nor in the context of the other sciences.

When I first saw your title, I was thinking in terms of biology, where there is much parallel convergence, but also, all sorts of quirks. For example, why are the fins of whales horizontal while those of fish generally vertical?

As for physics, quantum mechanics is probabilistic to the core. No one unique result for any process. This generally doesn't manifest itself directly in the macro world in which we live, but it is clearly essential to our modern lifestyle (think semiconductors, nuclear power, etc.)

The reason so many things seem deterministic is that:

1. We aggregate on a large enough scale that we can reduce the variability.

2. We focus on those processes we can understand, which are exactly those that are simple enough that we can draw such simplistic conclusions.

What's going on beyond the level of detail we have examined is anyone's guess.

Answer 2

Yes, everyone knows that the smallest theoretically possible, completely accurate simulation of the Universe is the Universe itself. This is not exactly a new idea.