‘Everything can happen, will happen’ is wrong...
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‘Everything can happen, will happen’ is wrong...
- Things that are possible can become impossible
- Things that are impossible can’t become possible
- So the probability space shrinks with time
- So infinite time does not make everything possible
- But Infinite space makes everything possible but at such as distance to never effect us.
- This is enough to rule out local Boltzmann Brains.
- Burning ghost
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Re: ‘Everything can happen, will happen’ is wrong...
- Thinking critical
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- Favorite Philosopher: A.C Grayling
- Location: Perth, Australia (originally New Zealand)
Re: ‘Everything can happen, will happen’ is wrong...
The saying is a mathematical claim "everything that can happen, will happen" (given enough time). It is simply a statistical probability.
- ThomasHobbes
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Re: ‘Everything can happen, will happen’ is wrong...
Here's is where your brain leaves to stage.
Since impossible things CANnot happen. this sentence is not relevant to the thread title.
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Re: ‘Everything can happen, will happen’ is wrong...
In a closed system, at time t+1 the set of all possible future events is smaller or equal to the set of all possible future events at time t.
Because:
- Things that are possible can become impossible
- Things that are impossible can’t become possible
- So the probability space shrinks with time
- ThomasHobbes
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Re: ‘Everything can happen, will happen’ is wrong...
You need to think in terms of the 2nd law of thermodynamics; systems start dynamic and full of energy and then become still with time. Things that were once possible in the system are no longer. Or a person as they age - less becomes possible for them. Or in a horse race, horses drop out so less winners become possible...
- Things that are impossible can’t become possible
It means when combined with the first predicate that the probability space must shrink with time .
- Burning ghost
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Re: ‘Everything can happen, will happen’ is wrong...
We all know (I hope) that the term “impossible” in physics refers to something being so improbably that it may as well be said that it will never happen - such as, as you point out (entropy), a sand castle simply won’t appear on a beach spontaneously. You may as well say everything is impossible because it only happens once and that everything is meaningless for this reason because everything is impossible to varify with any absolutism. Herein may lie the issue with the OP. Physics practices a “loose absolutism” (forgive the hastily cobbled together term!), meaning physics operates within the limits of measurement.
To attempt to conflate semantics from one field to another is going to get you nowhere fast.
I hope you can see now that taking a generic saying and trying to splice it into physics and philosophy is little more than a poorman’s mysticism.
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Re: ‘Everything can happen, will happen’ is wrong...
OP:
The first two bullet points seem reasonable. But the probability space only shrinks with time if there is a finite amount of time available. The reason why bullet point 1 is true is that we can't go back in time so an event that was possible at time 't' might no longer be possible at time 't+1' (as you point out later). But if there was an infinite amount of future time available then the shrinking pool of possible future events would always be infinitely large. So I disagree with bullet point 4.- This saying is often used in connection with infinite time but:
- Things that are possible can become impossible
- Things that are impossible can’t become possible
- So the probability space shrinks with time
- So infinite time does not make everything possible
- But Infinite space makes everything possible but at such as distance to never effect us.
- This is enough to rule out local Boltzmann Brains.
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- Posts: 341
- Joined: June 17th, 2018, 8:24 pm
Re: ‘Everything can happen, will happen’ is wrong...
- The set of possibilities in a closed system shrinks with time and tends to zero. For example the way systems start dynamic and reach equilibrium after a time. Sturing a coffie cup is an example; lots of stuff going on to start with followed by stillness.
- Thinking critical
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- Favorite Philosopher: A.C Grayling
- Location: Perth, Australia (originally New Zealand)
Re: ‘Everything can happen, will happen’ is wrong...
The increase of entropy within a system only reduces probability it does not make something impossible. Attempting to apply an entropic principal to explain the lack of ability due to age in humans and horses is nonsense, this not a valid comparison to prove your premise.devans99 wrote: ↑June 25th, 2018, 5:52 pm - Things that are possible can become impossible
You need to think in terms of the 2nd law of thermodynamics; systems start dynamic and full of energy and then become still with time. Things that were once possible in the system are no longer. Or a person as they age - less becomes possible for them. Or in a horse race, horses drop out so less winners become possible...
As for your coclusion, as stated earlier this is a non sequitur.
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