Can something happen without anything else causing it?

  • Derpenheim@lemmy.zip
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    20 hours ago

    That strongly depends on your reference frame. As in, what system are you looking at? Where are you drawing your box? If your box is around the entire universe, then yes, every action is a reaction stemming from the big bang, with very few notable exceptions pertaining to black holes that I wont go into.

    However, if your reference frame is a hand and a ball, then the hand pushing the ball is an original action, the ball moving its reaction.

    • jaxxed@lemmy.ml
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      15 hours ago

      In physics, we can’t really consider the universe to be deterministic at the quantum scale. We only think it must be when we try to look at particle interactions as a scaled down billards game.

      • MurrayL@lemmy.world
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        19 hours ago

        Not if your chosen reference frame is a hand and a ball, as per the example

        • pebbles@sh.itjust.works
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          18 hours ago

          I mean aren’t you saying: “Something can happen without a cause if we just ignore the cause.”

          I read ops question as about reality, not hypothetical universes that contain a hand that moves a without an arm or brain attached.

          • Derpenheim@lemmy.zip
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            18 hours ago

            I get the confusion, but a reference frame is a very important limitation for calculating what you need. Its not about whether the arm exists behind the hand, but whether its effects are important for the calculation.

            For the sake of the hand pushing the ball, its not. Only the momentum of the hand and the inertia of the ball are important.

            • Maeve@kbin.earth
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              18 hours ago

              I understand very well, and also understand anyone with the capacity will understand the frame of reference doesn’t explain the phenomenon. It’s how we went from four corners to heliocentrism to galaxy, universe, and multiverse.