Does God intervene to break the laws of Science?

[joshua 1 9]

"If at one time, we knew the positions and speeds of all the particles in the universe, then we could calculate their behaviour at any other time, in the past or future."

Is this statement true or false?

http://www.hawking.org.uk/does-god-play-dice.html

 

[essentialsaltes]

It is false. If the universe behaved according to classical mechanics, then it would be true. Newtonian physics is entirely deterministic.

However, the universe has a quantum nature, and quantum mechanics is probabilistic. Even if we had complete knowledge of the current state of the universe, we would not be able to predict a future state completely.

 

[joshua 1 9]

It is false. If the universe behaved according to classical mechanics, then it would be true. Newtonian physics is entirely deterministic.

However, the universe has a quantum nature, and quantum mechanics is probabilistic. Even if we had complete knowledge of the current state of the universe, we would not be able to predict a future state completely.

So what is the probability of developing a theory of everything?

 

[Jimmy D]

It is false. If the universe behaved according to classical mechanics, then it would be true. Newtonian physics is entirely deterministic.

However, the universe has a quantum nature, and quantum mechanics is probabilistic. Even if we had complete knowledge of the current state of the universe, we would not be able to predict a future state completely.

Seeing as Laplace (the quotee) was a contemporary of Napoleon, it probably seemed true at the time.

In the article Hawking goes on to explain why it isn't true, so I don't know why Joshua needs to ask.

 

[essentialsaltes]

So what is the probability of developing a theory of everything?

When a physicist speaks of a theory of everything, we generally mean a theory that unites all the forces from a fundamental perspective. Hard to say what the odds of that are. 50/50 within a century.

If you mean a theory that predicts everything with perfect accuracy, we have good reason to believe that is impossible, because of quantum mechanics.

 

[lesliedellow]

It is false. If the universe behaved according to classical mechanics, then it would be true. Newtonian physics is entirely deterministic.

However, the universe has a quantum nature, and quantum mechanics is probabilistic. Even if we had complete knowledge of the current state of the universe, we would not be able to predict a future state completely.

If somebody suggested that the Moon might suddenly relocate itself to the other side of the Galaxy, because we don't live in a Newtonian universe, he would soon be given an estimate of how many parallel universes would be needed, and how long their lifetimes would have to be, for that to happen just once.

 

[Greg1234]

It would have been incredibly difficult for "science" to exist in those times and environs where those like Jesus and his disciples walked. At one point you give the weather report and next thing you know a storm is being calmed. At one point you declare the "laws" of buoyancy, build thousands of ships according to those "laws," then someone walks on water. There came a time when the environment became conducive to the existence of "science," and in those environments it flourishes.

 

[joshua 1 9]

It would have been incredibly difficult for "science" to exist in those times and environs where those like Jesus and his disciples walked. At one point you give the weather report and next thing you know a storm is being calmed. At one point you declare the "laws" of buoyancy, build thousands of ships according to those "laws," then someone walks on water. There came a time when the environment became conducive to the existence of "science," and in those environments it flourishes.

Even going back to the time of Moses they had a lot of tricks up their sleeve. For example they knew how to make a calendar to keep track of the seasons so that they knew when to plant their seeds to get their crops so they had plenty of food to eat. 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

 

[Loudmouth]

It would have been incredibly difficult for "science" to exist in those times and environs where those like Jesus and his disciples walked. At one point you give the weather report and next thing you know a storm is being calmed. At one point you declare the "laws" of buoyancy, build thousands of ships according to those "laws," then someone walks on water. There came a time when the environment became conducive to the existence of "science," and in those environments it flourishes.

Science deals with these things exactly like it does Harry Potter.

 

[lesliedellow]

It would have been incredibly difficult for "science" to exist in those times and environs where those like Jesus and his disciples walked. At one point you give the weather report and next thing you know a storm is being calmed. At one point you declare the "laws" of buoyancy, build thousands of ships according to those "laws," then someone walks on water. There came a time when the environment became conducive to the existence of "science," and in those environments it flourishes.

Even with God Incarnate walking the Earth, miracles would have been very much the rare exception to the rule. Science deals with regularities in nature, not with exceptions so rare that atheists can dispute whether they happen at all. If the cultural circumstances had been right, science might have blossomed 2,000 years ago, but it had to wait for people to start asking the right questions, and find a way of answering them which didn't involve pulling answers out of their own heads - as the ancient Greeks did.