• Question: Do you believe in fate?

    Asked by amelie to Chris, Dave, David, Fiona, Jack on 19 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Chris Mansell

      Chris Mansell answered on 19 Jun 2013:


      There was a guy called LaPlace who thought that if someone knew the precise location and momentum of every atom in the universe, then that person could calculate the locations and momenta of these atoms at any time in the future. This made sense according to the best physical theory around in his day (in the early 1800’s).

      Nowadays, quantum mechanics is one of our best theories of nature and this seems to tells us that the behaviour of the universe has a probabilistic aspect to it. This means that, according to quantum mechanics, things in the future aren’t already determined.

      The above was my answer based on physics. I have own personal, subjective feelings on this topic. I feel like I have free will and I also feel like things happen for a reason. It’s a difficult question!

      (P.S. it’s interesting to think about how physical theories have changed our view of the universe. When our best theory was classical mechanics, some people imagined the universe running like clockwork. When thermodynamics was being developed, some people visualised the universe as being like a giant steam engine. We now live in the Information Age and I have heard some physicists thinking of the universe as being like a giant computer.)

    • Photo: David Freeborn

      David Freeborn answered on 19 Jun 2013:


      Hi amelie,

      This is an interesting question. A lot of it depends on what you mean by fate. As Chris says, for a long time physicists believed that everything in the Universe was completely determined. If we knew the position and properties of every particle, we could exactly predict what the future would look like. That’s a sort of fate, because the future of the universe and everything in it would be completely determined.

      Physicists disagree about what exactly Quantum Mechanics means. The most common way to understand it is called the “Copenhagen interpretation”. This says that every event in the Universe has some inherent “randomness” to it. We can try to predict what will happen, but sometimes our predictions will go wrong, and something unexpected will happen- even if we know all the positions and properties of the particles to begin with.

      This is how radioactive decay sometimes happens. Sometimes particles inside an atom are able to “escape” from an atom by this random process. This is called “quantum tunnelling”.

      Not all physicists agree with the Copenhagen Interpretation. Some believe in what is called “hidden variables”- they think if we could somehow know these hidden variables, we could still use it to predict the future, and when these random events will happen.

      So a few physicists still believe in a sort of “fate”. Every event that will ever happen in the Universe has already been determined.

    • Photo: Jack Miller

      Jack Miller answered on 19 Jun 2013:


      Chris & David have two excellent answers above, and I really can’t add to them! The state of physics at the moment is such that we might be able (on paper, at least) to predict everything in the future, if only we knew *everything* in the past. However, quantum mechanics tells us that we *cannot ever* measure *everythingMATOMO_URL

      Therefore, fate rather walks off the end of what types of questions you can answer with experiments!

    • Photo: Dave Farmer

      Dave Farmer answered on 20 Jun 2013:


      Hi amelie,

      As the guys above have described, physically the idea of ‘fate’ or knowing what’s going to happen seems to be contrary to our current understanding of the universe.

      Based on this I would say that ‘believe’ might not be the right word. Instead I would say that my understanding is that events be ‘fated’ is impossible.

      It is a fascinating topic though. My little brother did a philosophy degree and I’ve had many many arguments with him about this!

      Dave

Comments