Can something happen without anything else causing it?

  • MurrayL@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    19 hours ago

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

    • pebbles@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      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
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        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
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          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.