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No new info. From the article: "So how deterministic is the Universe? The answer will depend on the final theory that bridges the divide between quantum physics and relativity — and that remains a far-off prospect."

Unless physics is totally noise-free, with zero randomness, there is indeterminism. There are so many chaotic processes that amplify randomness that any randomness at all will cause wide divergence in outcomes.

Whether or not noise and free will are the same thing is a question for theologians. Rudy Rucker addressed that question in passing in one of his SF novels.



If you can't control the noise, there is no free will. If you could control the noise, that would be measurable. You need both to be able to control the noise and to not have that be a direct consequence of another physical process in order to demonstrate free will.


Determinisim is impossible because randomness is baked in; knowing position and momentum isnt a thing, and as far as we can tell the only closed systems are light cones.

Odd that the article didnt mention Heisenberg.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21253267


Randomness doesn't imply free will. I was responding to the last paragraph of GGP's comment.


Noise doesn't necessarily participate in reasoning, it can be just a factor to ignore or smooth out. You can calculate 1+1 at a random moment of time, but the result will be 2 - deterministic in spite of present randomness.


The reverse, however, is not true. If you have no source of randomness at all, you get the same answer every time.

"Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin." - Von Neumann




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