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Old 04-14-2009, 11:39 AM   #10 (permalink)
cardboard adolescent
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Join Date: Nov 2005
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just because you can show one event 'caused' another, that is, that when one event occurs the other usually happens after it, doesn't mean you've explained either event, or the connection, does it? or does it? hmm

i'm not sure what to think of the words 'necessary' and 'contingent' anymore either, they're very slippery. given what we know about indeterminacy it seems strange to say that the current state of the universe is 'necessary,' rather it seems more and more contingent on chance as you pile up all the different moments from the big bang or whatever. but from our perspective it is rather difficult to make out levels of contingency, everything simply is what it is, how do we know it could have been different? well perhaps through logic and science we can detach from the world as it is into the world as it could be, given different values for more and more fundamental entities and then perhaps different laws altogether, and in such a way work out the 'necessary' truths for building systems in the first place and then hierarchically defining levels of contingency on these axioms... but that assumes that the universe is basically a system that can be modeled. according to quantum mechanics it is, but the model would have to be as complex as the system (which isn't really a model anymore). so, those two words carry a wide range of perspectives, you can approach them in the spirit of 'pure logic', in terms of physics, pragmatically... all the meanings compete and it's hard to get a grip on what you're talking about.

Last edited by cardboard adolescent; 04-14-2009 at 11:46 AM.
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