re: mr jones - ten major u.s. disasters on sig
Denny,
Some of us still have to keep the wheels of industry turning and almost every time an interesting (to some of us anyway) topic appears on HC some one seems to call me up to "oil those wheels". Will save your last post and think about it a bit more.
Quantum physics has sort of stuffed up the "hard" deterministic position. Of course we are all determinists at the Newtonian level but my guess is it’s a little harder to draw out some of the implications that I think you attempt, through your use of determinism.
The "butterfly wings fluttering on the Amazon affecting climate in Timbuktu" is a good quote and probably leads some to philosophical meditation but in practical terms the "every cause (infinite or distant-finite in order or time) having more that zero effect (in practical terms) into some present or future event (effect)", probably overplays its importance even if hard determinism was the true process producing every effect
