Quote:
Originally Posted by Cantando  If every event is capable of being predicted 100% by having the information of each underlying cause (down to the most miniscule butterfly effect), then, surely, that means the universe evolves in one way only.
Whether we tried to predict or not, ..... since everything would just happen according to the previous conditions which make it happen. |
No .... You see, that was one of the points I was making.
The prediction itself, or the non-prediction, changes the outcome. Therefore it does matter whether we tried to predict or not.
Example - if a very large number of people predicted that the stock market will go up, they will rush to buy stocks. Since there are so many buyers, the stock market will go up.
If a very large number of people predicted that the stock market would go down, they will rush to sell their stocks. Since there are so many sellers, the stock market will go down.
Therefore we may say that the stock market's performance was not pre-determined. It may have gone up, or it may have gone down. The direction was not pre-determined. It went one particular way, because of the nature of prediction made.
Your very attempt to observe the butterfly, alters the butterfly effect. For example, you seek to gather information about which way the butterfly is flying, but to gather such information, you get close to the butterfly, and frighten it, thereby causing it to fly away in a particular direction that it would not have flown it, if you had not tried to gather information about it. Therefore the butterfly effect is altered.