The Problem With A Clockwork Universe : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR
Fortunately, this kind of determinism is impossible, at least within the
current scientific framework. We can't know the positions and velocity
of all particles in the same instant: how could you measure them, if
particles are separated by billions of light-years across the universe?
(And which particles are these anyway? How can one attempt to
reconstruct physical reality from quarks and electrons to brains and
galaxies?) Furthermore, the behavior of systems with complex
interactions (from the solar system to a cell in the brain) is sensitive
to the precision that we know the positions of its various components.
Since no measurement is absolutely precise, we simply can't predict the
faraway future. To nail the deterministic coffin shut, quantum physics
also imposes limits on the position and velocity of a particle. At least
according to the way we do science now, determinism is unviable.
