[Avodah] Free Will vs. Physics

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

"Hakol tzafui, v'har'shus n'suna - All is foreseen, yet free choice *is* given." - Avos 3:15

We usually understand this in terms of not being bound by G-d's advance knowledge of the choice we are yet to make. But I thought of another possible layer of meaning:

According to determinism, I can know the future *without* having a time machine, and *without* being G-d. All I need to know (according to determinism) is the current state of everything (or even a past state of everything). From that, one can calculate and figure out exactly what will happen next, and what will happen after that, and so on, ad infinitum.

If we include this sort of foreknowlege in the mishna's "hakol tzafui", then we will have a new translation: "The universe *is* deterministic, yet free choice *is* given."

And that's really not very different from "hakol b'ydei Shamayim, chutz m'yiras Shamayim".

Akiva Miller
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