Mageth

Part of the reason why we have the ability to choose is because the universe is non-deterministic. That is, there are always random events that make our future unpredictable.

I think the universe is at least partially deterministic. As a test, take a brick and hold it four feet above your bare foot and drop it. I predict the universe is deterministic in that the brick will fall on your foot and will hurt like hell.

If the universe were totally non-deterministic, then an ordered existence as we know it would be impossible.

Eric H

Hello Philosoft

quote Philosoft

Exactly. Did Hitler choose to do those things because of the circumstances of his life or was he a "being who chooses to pursue imperialism and commit genocide"? Can we look at major decisions in Hitlers life and say, "He could have chosen do otherwise right here"? How would we know?

Hitler could have gone for a democracy, then he would have less determinism, there would have been the will of the people to comply with. Instead he chose to be a dictator. As I understand it Hitler was ruthless and would over rule all others once he had made up his mind to achieve a goal.

There are people who make many crucial decisions daily and act on them, and then there are people who try and analyse the decision making process.

I don’t think Hitler had any real choice in decision making because his underpants where to tight, and this forced him to make these nasty choices in life.


Peace

Eric

Sr. Zonules

Mageth, you're right. I should have clarified that the universe is only partially deterministic.

Even with that, I still cannot predict the future exactly, and can only bet on things (with some hope of better-thatn-random success) that I know are Ture/False due to previous experience. I don't need to see if it will hurt if I drop a brick on it; I might want to investigate quantum mechanics, Wolfram's new book and black-holes to better understand randomness and the universe.

Eric and others - I think that Hitler is a terrible example, and I cringe whenever someone uses him as an example. Most people don't know much about him, and that's why there are lots of people who think they can generalise things and apply them to Hitler. He is an idiot and a crazy-man (not to mention he was very wrong about things), and I think that better examples could be had.

Philosoft

I'm finding it very difficult to express in text what I'm thinking. So, I think I'm going to hash this out IRL before I barf out another muddled post again. Thanks for your patience, gang.