Free Republic
Browse · Search
Smoky Backroom
Topics · Post Article

To: donh; Fester Chugabrew
It appears (galavanting particle physicists aside) that the universe, out of all the myrid futures that could unfold, can only unfold one.

My favorite example is the card deck. Shuffle a deck of 52 thoroughly and lay it out. Whatever it is you're seeing, it had one chance in 52 factorial (52 x 51 x 50 x 49 x 48 ... x 1) of being there. Wow! Not very likely!

Do it again, whatever you get will be similarly improbable. Every time, you're guaranteed to get one and only one from a large space of possibilities.

2,867 posted on 01/05/2003 7:13:46 AM PST by VadeRetro
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2848 | View Replies ]


To: VadeRetro
Do it again, whatever you get will be similarly improbable. Every time, you're guaranteed to get one and only one from a large space of possibilities.

Do it all day long. The cumulative results at the end of the day will really be improbable. But you did it without even working up a sweat. Amazing! Imagine the odds against the sequence you'll get if you do this for a whole month. The mind boggles. It's a miracle!

2,869 posted on 01/05/2003 7:33:56 AM PST by PatrickHenry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2867 | View Replies ]

To: VadeRetro
Do it again, whatever you get will be similarly improbable. Every time, you're guaranteed to get one and only one from a large space of possibilities.

Another example (I forget who originally posted this, but hats off to whomever it was): the chances of a leaf following a particular path from the limb to the ground, out of ALL possible paths between the limb and the ground, is EXQUISITELY small..... but the odds that the leaf will follow some one of them is.... ONE.

But this does not stop leaves from falling from trees, nor does it incur our astonishment when we observe a leaf slowly meandering its way to the ground.

2,884 posted on 01/05/2003 9:46:37 AM PST by longshadow
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2867 | View Replies ]

To: VadeRetro
"My favorite example is the card deck. Shuffle a deck of 52 thoroughly and lay it out. Whatever it is you're seeing, it had one chance in 52 factorial (52 x 51 x 50 x 49 x 48 ... x 1) of being there. Wow! Not very likely!"

If this is your concept, albeit on a large scale, of how the universe and history is unfolding, you've taken your self out of the realm of predicatibility, and by extension out of the realm of science.

So which do you want? Predicatability based on laws that were established from the start, or laws that developed themselves out of a state of total unpredictability? Guess which of these two makes most sense to real scientists, common man, and the Bible?

2,976 posted on 01/05/2003 2:11:31 PM PST by Fester Chugabrew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2867 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Smoky Backroom
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson