Re: TE, souls and freedom

Chris Cogan (ccogan@sfo.com)
Sun, 19 Sep 1999 22:55:55 -0700

>
> Brian: Does anyone here think that there are
> some today that would say that the tape would play out again precisely
> as before?
>
> Determinism still does not mean that the outcome will be the same. Chaos
theory has already shown that even with deterministic inputs, very small
variations will lead to big deviations.

Chris
It depends on what we mean by "rewinding" the tape. If we mean "rewinding"
the entire *universe*, with *absolute* precision, then, unless it is being
influenced by outside forces, it should replay exactly the same way.

Obviously, if even one neutrino is off by even the smallest amount, that
could ruin the whole thing, and the dominant species on Earth might now be
some kind of advanced dinosaur, or there might not even *be* an Earth, or
even the Solar System.