Fish Biscuit wrote:
> This may have been discussed the first time it happened, but now that it
> has happened twice...I'm referring, of course, to the guns that won't
> kill Walt's dad.
>
> The only scientific explanation I can think of for the phenomena (
> besides mind-bogglingly improbable coincidence ) lays in my, admittedly
> limited, understanding of quantum theory...in that, given an infinite
> multi-dimensional universe and sufficient time, anything that can happen
> WILL happen - quantum theory seems to state that a person CAN walk
> unharmed through a solid stone wall, just that it is exceedingly
> unlikely that anyone will ever do so during the entire history of the
> human race.
It's incorrect to extrapolate quantum fluctuations to the macroscopic
level. They just don't occur at that level. It's NOT just because of
the statistical improbabilities. It's because quantum fluctuations
occur at the level of the granularity of the universe (as given by
Planck's constant); at higher granularities, the universe behaves as if
it's continuous.
And that's what makes all of experimental science possible. If quantum
fluctuations could occur at the macroscopic level, then the outcome of
scientific experiments would be randomized. It's the repeatability of
scientific phenomena--do the same experiment again the same way and
you'll get the same result--that makes experimental science possible.
Doug Elrod's theory, which he posted in this discussion, is closer to
the truth: If you could accurately *predict* the date of your death (by
time travel or other means), then you know that nothing can kill you
before that date. You could eagerly jump off the top of the Empire
State Building today, and know that somehow you would magically survive
it because it's not your time to die yet.
We've already seen the converse situation: Charlie's death. Once
Desmond foresaw that Charlie was going to die shortly, there was nothing
he could do to prevent it. The only mystery was the manner of death.
It's tied up with the questions of predestination and destiny. In the
old days, folks believed that God knew all of our futures (that's part
of his being an "all-knowing" God). So God knows when each of us is
going to die. Theologians debated whether God actually defined our
lifespans for us when our souls are infused at conception or birth, or
whether He just knew it but couldn't change it. (Can even an
"all-powerful" God change His own future?)
--
Steven L.
Email: sdlitvin@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
the NOSPAM before replying to me.
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