Do you believe that the fate of our humanity is predestined? Do you believe the world is arranged? Have we humans really ever had our own consciousness? Is the future really predictable?
Hello everyone, today we analyze together from a scientific point of view, whether everything in the universe is really predestined. Let's uncover theories that scientists once thought were destined. Or the old rules like attention, arranged on our starting topic today.
When it comes to fate, in the scientific community, we first think of the once-popular Laplace Demon.
In Laplace's theory, our future is completely predictable. Everything in the universe is as large as every celestial body, as small as every flower and tree can be predicted. From the time the universe was born, the entire universe was like a TV series, playing continuously every day.
After this theory was proposed, it caused an uproar at the time. It has also hit the enthusiasm of human beings to a certain extent. If the future is truly predictable and everything is predestined, then what is the point of our struggle?
But thankfully, in some of the theories proposed by later scientists, Laplace's theory was gradually overturned.
In the mid-17th century, Newton proposed classical mechanics. In Newton's own words at the time, he said he could predict the future state of motion of every celestial body in the universe.
He could do it with just a simple formula, which seemed to give a light to human physics at that time. And the confidence of human beings that they can predict the future has also taken root since Newton.
About 200 years later, the appearance of Laplace further analyzed Newton's classical mechanics. In Laplace's own words, the universe also has cause and effect, and the present moment is the effect of the past, the cause of the future. Every move now can affect future outcomes.
In fact, if we understand it according to our normal cognition, there is no mistake in saying so.
Laplace believes that in our universe, there must be a higher intelligent life, this advanced intelligent life, it has a powerful data computing power, it can deeply perceive all the information of everything in the world. In the end, it can condense all this data and information into a formula, like Newton's formula, and then calculate the future results.
Anything that does not happen in the future, in this higher intelligent life, is like a movie, and it is completely possible to observe any picture. And this higher intelligent life is the Laplace Demon.
Of course, his theory could not be proved by any evidence, but only because he had a certain reputation at that time, and then put forward such a hypothetical theory. But no one can easily overturn his hypothesis.
One wonders, if it were true to be like the theory rapras had proposed, would the entire universe have been determined at the moment of the Big Bang and the outcome of any future moment? So who is this demon?
In 1983, neuroscientist Benjamin Ribet did such an experiment.
He enlisted a volunteer who was involved in the experiment and first filled the volunteer's head with the probe of the brainwave recorder. Then tell the volunteers to use their consciousness to randomly find a point in time to move their fingers. His aim was to use brain waves to measure when a volunteer moved his fingers, the time when his consciousness of moving his fingers, and the time when his brain issued instructions.
According to our common cognition, the order of the three should be to first produce the consciousness of moving the finger, then the brain issues instructions, and finally make the action of moving the finger. But incredibly, Benjamin Liberté was miraculously discovered. The order of the three is that the brain first gives instructions, then generates the consciousness of moving the fingers, and finally reacts to moving the fingers.
The results shocked all the scientists present. If the results of the experiment are really not wrong, then does it mean that we humans do not have our own consciousness at all, in this experiment, the volunteer consciousness only plays a simple transmission role, and does not appear before the brain directs? So who controls our brains? Why does the brain decide everything on its own?
Let's review laplace again.
We say that Laplace proposed his theory based on further analysis of Newtonian classical mechanics. This raises a question. Does Laplace's theory hold in the microscopic world? Newton's classical mechanics applied only to macroscopic mechanics.
Let's take the atom as an example.
It is assumed that the atoms undergo radioactive decay, and finally alpha particles are produced. So how should this future be predicted? Even if the Laplace Demon has the most powerful data computing power, it can understand the initial data of all atoms. Nor does it necessarily predict the future of atomic decay.
Because when the atom decays, even it doesn't know itself. Everything seems to be a random result.
Physicist David Bohm finally gave such an explanation.
He believes that the unpredictability of the quantum world is not the randomness of these quanta, but because some data we cannot observe at all. Use electronics as an example. No one knows where electrons will appear at a given moment. When humans don't observe it, it's like a cloud of electrons. is a possibility that can appear in any one location.
And when people observe it, it will be fixed at a certain point. How can an unobservable object predict future results?
Let's use laplace to analyze whether the macro world is correct. In 1886, the King of Sweden paid a huge bonus to find someone to overturn the theory of the stable operation of the solar system. And prove the future results of the solar system. Scientist Henri Poincaré accepted this challenge.
He used the earth, moon, and day that we humans are most familiar with to calculate. In the end, he found that no matter how precise the calculation, the result of each calculation would not be the same. Because the result of each calculation is limited by the initial conditions of the calculation. And the effects of each initial condition are extremely subtle.
Hence the idea of chaos theory. A simple cause does not produce only a simple effect.
Let's take the butterfly effect as an example. Perhaps a butterfly flapping its wings in Germany could cause a storm in any corner of the globe. With such precise initial conditions, can laplace demons also be accurately calculated?
According to the theory of the butterfly effect, there are countless initial conditions that cause this storm. Maybe it's the drop of a water cup, maybe it's you sneezing. It may also be that the finger was moved.
In chaos theory, every state of things that can occur cyclically is held. None of them will have the same results. And every outcome will evolve randomly.
On mobile phones, you often see people laughing at the accuracy of weather forecasts. Some people think that the weather forecast on their mobile phones has never corresponded to reality. So if you analyze it according to chaos theory, everyone should be able to understand it, right? Even with the most accurate weather station, it is impossible to take into account all the initial conditions that affect the weather conditions, so sometimes there will be certain errors, which is inevitable.
Whether it is Poincaré's chaos theory or Newton's classical mechanics, perhaps our world is predestined. It also has a well-established destined system. But it's still impossible to predict.
Because there are infinitely many factors that affect the changes of everything in the world. It is likely that just one humble initial condition will cause a huge change. Then some people here may ask questions. The future that we humans cannot predict does not mean that the Laplace Demon cannot predict it, because it has powerful data collection and computing power.
So have you ever thought that even if Laplace's computing power is strong, then in our universe, the behavior of this operation and the results of the operation will have an impact on the future? This seems to be something that will never be clear.
Unless it can escape the universe we live in now. In a higher dimensional metacosm to calculate our universe. But will the universe in which it lives affect the outcome because of its actions?
Well, this issue is the topic of this issue, do you think that the fate of our universe and humanity is predestined? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss, we will meet again in the next issue!