Stathis Papaioannou wrote:
> John Mikes writes:
>
> > Peter:
> > "... A counterfactual is a COUNTERfactual - -it is
> > something that could have happenned but didn't. There is no
> > reason why we should be conscious of in things
> > we coudl have done but didn't. ..."
> >
> > JM:
> > It could not have happened in another way if it did happen THIS way.. WE may
> > think - in our limited circle of knowledge - that something else was also
> > viable, but in the deterministic world of a total (unlimited, not
> > model-enclosed) interconnectedness - whatever happened, was "the" possible
> > way of events.
> > I am not talking about HP universes or thought experiments.
>
> Yes: the mere fact that we *think* it could have happened differently does not
> mean that it could have happened differently.
Counterfactuals come from physical determinism, they
are not contrary to it. Causal determism mean there are
physical laws determining events which can be modelled
by mathematival statements. The mathermatical
formulation of physical laws allows you to answer
hypothetical questions even if the actual situation cannot
be phsyically realised for some practical reason.
If the actual situation cannot
be physically realised for some practical reason,
there is a sense in which it is impossible --
but it is not the same sense of impossible
as something which is forbidden by physical
laws.
> It could be that there is just a single
> deterministic universe and we are just playing out our lives like actors in a film. God
> knows exactly how I'm going to finish this sentence, even if I don't until after the fact.
>
> Stathis Papaioannou
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Received on Wed Aug 30 2006 - 08:25:31 PDT