(no subject)
this is the question i've been turning over recently:
if we rewind the world all the way back to the big bang, then press play, would everything unfold in the exact same way? would we end up in this room, in this situation, in this configuration of atoms?
or, put another way, does having all the information about a system (the position and velocity of every atom) allow you to make a prediction about the future? is there one inevitable outcome given all the information?
if the universe is expanding only up to a point and will slow down and will contract again, then we are part of a cycle of booms and busts. out and in, like breathing. so, at some point, we'll be back to where we began. all the information stays inside the system of the universe. and no new information enters. so we'll collapse to the exact same point from which we started. will everything then happen all over again? is it an endless loop of replay and rewind?
if we rewind the world all the way back to the big bang, then press play, would everything unfold in the exact same way? would we end up in this room, in this situation, in this configuration of atoms?
or, put another way, does having all the information about a system (the position and velocity of every atom) allow you to make a prediction about the future? is there one inevitable outcome given all the information?
if the universe is expanding only up to a point and will slow down and will contract again, then we are part of a cycle of booms and busts. out and in, like breathing. so, at some point, we'll be back to where we began. all the information stays inside the system of the universe. and no new information enters. so we'll collapse to the exact same point from which we started. will everything then happen all over again? is it an endless loop of replay and rewind?