Free will

Thanks to Con for challenging me to recall some of the physics I am supposed to know. Whatever I can recall redeems the effort of having studied it in the first place. Con is arguing that there are no unpredictable events. That claim is contradicted by modern physics. 1. Particles decay at unpredictable times. http://en.wikipedia.org... summarizes "Particle decay is the spontaneous process of one elementary particle transforming into other elementary particles. During this process, an elementary particle becomes a different particle with less mass and an intermediate particle such as W boson in muon decay. ... The mean lifetime of a particle is labeled τ, and thus the probability that a particle survives for a time greater than t before decaying is given by the relation P(t) = e^{-t/(\gamma \tau)}" In other words, the average time for the type of particle decay is known, but the moment at which will decay is completely unpredictable. The W boson has an average decay time of 10^(-25) seconds and an electron has an average life of 4.6 x 10^26 years. Other particles have intermediate times. There are about 10^79 electrons in the known universe http://www.advancedphysics.org..., so even though 10^26 years is a long average life, there are many millions of unpredictable electron decays every second, and many more of other types of particles. 2. From the same Wikipedia article, "The process of particle decay is distinct from radioactive decay, in which an unstable atomic nucleus is transformed into a smaller nucleus accompanied by the emission of particles or radiation." Radioactive decay is a separate unpredictable process: "Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable atomic nucleus spontaneously loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and radiation. This decay, or loss of energy, results in an atom of one type, called the parent nuclide transforming to an atom of a different type, named the daughter nuclide. For example: a carbon-14 atom (the "parent") emits radiation and transforms to a nitrogen-14 atom (the "daughter"). This is a stochastic process on the atomic level, in that it is impossible to predict when a given atom will decay,[1] but given a large number of similar atoms the decay rate, on average, is predictable." http://en.wikipedia.org... 3. Quantum states only exist as probability distributions. "In quantum theory, even pure states show statistical behavior. Regardless of how carefully we prepare the state ρ of the system, measurement results are not repeatable in general, and we must understand the expectation value \langle A \rangle _\sigma of an observable A as a statistical mean. It is this mean that is predicted by physical theories." http://en.wikipedia.org... This means that the position and momentum of a particle or object only exists as a probability distribution. Con incorrectly asserted, "The fact that it is impossible to know both the location and velocity of a particle at the same time is irrelevant because they still have a velocity and location, and our knowledge of them does not affect them." No, the position and momentum only exist as probability distributions. It follows that particle interactions can only be described in terms of probability distributions. As the article notes, the uncertainty principle applies to both classical and quantum mechanics. 4. Quantum fluctuation is the unpredictable temporary appearance of particles. "In quantum physics, a quantum fluctuation is the temporary change in the amount of energy in a point in space, arising from Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. ...That means that conservation of energy can appear to be violated, but only for small times. This allows the creation of particle-antiparticle pairs of virtual particles. The effects of these particles are measurable, for example, in the effective charge of the electron, different from its "naked" charge. ... Quantum fluctuations may have been very important in the origin of the structure of the universe: according to the model of inflation the ones that existed when inflation began were amplified and formed the seed of all current observed structure." http://en.wikipedia.org... 5. Wave-particle duality demonstrated in diffraction experiments shows that it is impossible to predict the paths of particles. "One of the most striking consequences of the new science is that it is not in agreement with the belief of Laplace that an omniscient entity, knowing the initial positions and velocities of all particles in the universe at one time, could predict their positions at any future time. (To paraphrase Laplace's idea, the positions and velocities of all things at any given time depend absolutely on their previous positions and velocities and the absolute laws that govern physical interactions.) Laplace believed that such particles would follow the laws of motion discovered by Newton, but twentieth century physics made it clear that the motions of sub-atomic particles and even some small atoms cannot be predicted by using the laws of Newtonian physics.[11] For instance, most of the orbits for electrons moving around atomic nuclei that are permitted by Newtonian physics are excluded by the new physics. And it is not even clear what the "movement" of a particle such as a photon may be when it is not clear that it "goes through" either one slit or the other, but it is clear that the probability of its arrival at various points on the target screen is a function of its wavelength and of the distance between the slits. Whereas Laplace would expect an omniscient mind to be able to predict with absolute confidence the arrival of a photon at some specific point on the target screen, it turns out that the particle may arrive at one of a great number of points, but that the percentage of particles that arrive at each of such points is determined by the laws of the new physics." http://en.wikipedia.org... Con offers, "Consider a simple universe with only one particle, clearly the particle will travel in a straight line at a constant speed based on the laws of physics." No, the particle will decay at an unpredictable time, and particles near it will appear due to quantum fluctuation and interact. The particle's quantum state may decay. When multiple particles are represented, there interactions predicable because their positions and momentum are only defined by probability densities, and wave-particle duality makes their paths inherently unpredictable. Con is in very good company in doubting the probabilistic nature of the universe. Einstein's well-known comment was, "God does not play dice with the universe." Less well known is Niels Bohr's reply, "Albert, if God wants to play dice with the universe, let him." Con demanded that all assertions be backed by references. I have provided the references. Con is yet to provide support for his assertions.