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Ask HN: Every outcome in this world is a mathematical function. Do you agree?

4 points by googlycooly ↗ HN
Every outcome is controlled by variables that are sometimes known or sometimes unknown. If we could identify these variables, we can predict any outcome in this world.

Do you agree?

5 comments

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tgflynn
No. Determinism hasn't been an accepted model of physics for a hundred years.
hans1729
...below the atomic domain, which may very well constitute what the author considers "this world". Our lifes don't take place in the quantum realm (although you could argue that reality as a whole is some weird quantum graph)

And even on the quantum level, it's not like anyone is able to falsify determinism; due to uncertainty and a lack of understanding, all we have are pdfs, right?

tgflynn
> Our lifes don't take place in the quantum realm

The world is full of unpredictable noise, ultimately because of quantum mechanics. This noise inevitably gets amplified to the point where it affects the behavior of complex macroscopic systems.

> And even on the quantum level, it's not like anyone is able to falsify determinism

Since physics is an empirical science it's never possible to be certain of anything. However the evidence against quantum mechanics being deterministic is quite strong. In particular Bell's inequality shows that such a deterministic theory if it is compatible with known experimental results would have to violate the principle of locality.

2rsf
Maybe to the first one, Big definite no to the second one- quantum physics, chaotic systems (as in Chaos theory) and the fact that we still don't know all the rules of nature are theoretical limits to your idea.