particles and the nature of the universe

There is no such thing as "random".

That's the basis of my hypothesis about the nature of the universe. It leads me to believe that there isn't really a such thing as free will for example. If this statement intrigues you, keep reading and I'll try to explain.

First imagine an infinite space with nothing in it except one base particle of matter. Imagine that this particle is moving in a particular direction at a particular speed (though movement won't matter yet since it's in the only thing in infinite space). Based on the knowledge of the particle's properties, environment, and current movement, it is the case that five seconds later, the particle will be in a spot that could have been defined mathematically. A better way of looking at it is that you can know both past, present, and future of that particle with 100% certainty. Let's not worry about Heisenberg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle) problems here. This hypothetical situation doesn't reuire that anyone measure this particle or actually even know about the particle. In the example... there just is a particle, and its behavior can be modeled... it will behave a certain way.

Now let's add another particle to the scenario. Their movement matters now because of relative position. Let's even say that the particles will collide. Based on the behavior of particles of their nature (whatever that might be), the speed they're moving, and the angle they'll hit each other at, we can again mathematically model the following behavior. Maybe they bounce off each other and change the path they were taking. But the new path is perfectly predictable... the outcome of the collision with those parameters would be the same every time. Change something a little bit, and the outcome will be different, but knowing the preceeding situation, you can still model the resulting behavior.

Now imagine the universe. A presumably infinite space with lots and lots of particles moving about in ways that can be modeled. They'll react to the gravity of nearby particles. They'll react to hitting other particles, sometimes bouncing, sometimes combining... but every single thing those particles do is a logical progression where if you know all the pieces, all of their behaviors, and their current situation, you could mathematically rewind and see where they were. You can also mathematically fast word and know with 100% certainty (as long as you have all the information to work with) what will be happening in 5 seconds, 5 hours, 5 years... Whatever time frame you like, though of course longer times would require huge amounts of calculations as you figure out every step of the way, but try not to get hung up on thinking that this has to be a human being or any intelligent being that is "knowing" all of this. Just keep in mind that regardless of whether a person knows about the particles, they are there behvaing in the way they normally would. The whole universe and everything in it is just a complex continuous reaction that keeps going.

That's my hypothesis. I don't have any real means of proving it since I'm human. But I can give you something to think about that might lead you to think the hypothesis has some weight to it. Actually, I'm kind of hoping what I wrote above seems logical to you, and you find weight to the idea already.

Let's carry the idea out further now. The human body is composed of those particles. How they behave is a static thing... it doesn't change, or if it does change, the change is expected... because it's part of the behavior of the particles. Gravity affects us, sunlight affects us, wind affects us, sound affects us... all the particles around us have some bearing on us in some way.

Our brains are made of these particles. How we think and what we think is a result of the behavior of those particles, the larger constructs of our neurons, and all of the environmental forces around us as we grow up. Now, if someone could somehow know all of the particles in the universe and their situations without affecting them, they could watch those particles interact and could likely predict exactly what position those particles would be in next, and what that would mean for everything. Based on various stimulus, past experience, and the way our neurons are formed, the resulting choices we make would be perfectly predictable. The particles would move as expected. The electrical charges and chemical reactions that are the medium for our thought would behave as expected. Our thoughts and choices are a result of particle interaction and are subject to the same laws as the rest of the particles in the universe. "Free will" is a misnomer.

I'm not trying to suggest you can't decide on your own. I'm not trying to suggest that you are under some kind of control of the particles of the universe. I'm saying that you make your decisions and take your actions based on everything that came before that affected you, and you will always do so. When you decide to throw a pen on the ground upon reading this to prove that you can do something unexpected, it's a reaction to reading my words that would easily fit into the mathematical equation. The particles reacted to the other particles and your body ended up taking action. And the hypothetical being that can know all the particles would easily know that you were about to throw the pen on the ground and would even know what your thoughts would be. Every action you take is a result of what came before. There is no such thing as doing anything unpredictable from teh view point of the universe. Of course, other people might not have expected it, but they didn't have all the info. It was unpredictable to that person watching you, but that doesn't really matter. The particles behaved as they would.

All of that said, I carry the thought further by then realizing that all of the future will happen as it would. Every decision you make. Every stumble. Every change of mind. Every decision where you wonder what would have happened had you chosen another path. It's all going to happen as the particles bounce, and the imaginary creature that can know all the particles and all their interactions... could perfectly predict exactly what your life would include and every decision you would make.

Of course... now to bring the Heisenberg uncertainty principle back into it for a moment. If this mythical being told you what was going to happen, it would affect your decision making... the particle behavior would change... the being would have affected the particles it was observing. But then your reactions would change in a predictable way... so I guess this quick tangent is leading me down a path to an attempt at a proof that an all-knowing being can not exist. :)

All this thought is coming out of my head very quickly and I'm not sure I got all of it into this piece. My conclusion is that while we decide as we like, the decision is perfectly mathematically predictable, and so in a way there is no such thing as free will because what will happen to you over the course of your life is just a particle reaction set in motion long before you were born.

Oh that reminded me. A friend of mine debated with me a bout this a bit, and got me to a point where I was saying that everything is a result of the moments before it. He brought up the question of what happened first. I'm just trying to be complete here. So what set off the first set of reactions? It's a question that lots of people have tried to answer for various guesses about the "beginning" of time and space. It's a question that all intended answers have to address really.

I'll address it as simply as I can. I don't know. But my not knowing has nothing to do with what really happened, and my not knowing does not disprove the hypothesis I put forth. I can guess, and some people might point to a "god" of some variety, but I don't need to know that. The particles march on.

Musings on smoking

Why do people smoke? What I use to rationalize people smoking in my head is to imagine that someone they are close to smoked near them at some point before high school graduation. Parents or friends I guess. And then they continue smoking because of the addiction... both chemical and psychological.



I find myself trying to apply logic to smoking, but it doesn't work well. Theoretically, no one would choose to smoke. It makes no sense to smoke. And it makes a lot of sense to not smoke. But in practice... well... lots of people smoke. Looks like in 2006 the CDC estimated that about 20% of the 18+ year old population in the United States smokes (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5644a2.htm). So one in five adults. I'd be curious to see how it spreads across age groups, gender, and geographic location (among others), but really my curiosity is based on the personal experiences near people who smoke, and an un-scientific observation that physically attractive women in bars, pubs, and clubs seem to all smoke. But that will get way too involved if I try to get in depth on that one. So I'm going to go back to the basics. The pros and cons of smoking.



The Pros...

- once you're addicted, smoking a cigarette satisfies the addiction causing a feeling of relaxation.
- it's rebelious?



The Cons...

- It costs money.
- It kills you slowly and with horrible painful conditions.
- It kills the people around you with horrible painful conditions.
- It smells bad. Really bad.
- It leaves a film of some awful material on everything you smoke near.
- The stench clings so even when you're not smoking it can be smelled.
- Did I mention the horrible health effects yet?

Here we go... a better set of information than I could put together. More CDC numbers: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/factsheets/cig_smoking_mort.htm

Apparently over 400,000 people a year die from cigarette smoking. That's pretty nasty. So at this point I'm adding one more reason smoking people might use: they just don't care. They started smoking, and don't care enough to stop. They smell bad, they are spending hundreds of dollars they don't need to, they're ruining thier own health, and they're hurting the health of those around them. I don't get it. Logic says to me that anyone in their right mind would stop smoking... and go through anything to stop. Oh well. I guess smokers don't care.