keep scrolling down if you want something funny to read, this isn't
Here's a little theory that I have come up with that you might enjoy (it might have been proposed before I thought of it, but I have never heard of it). I theorize that everything is predestined, but not in the traditional sense of the concept. I believe this because of the universe being governed by an absolute set of rules, and that everything in the universe is affected by these rules (I will just refer to these rules as physics for simplicity's sake). My understanding of physics is that if you could get all the variables that affect an object, it is possible to calculate where it will be the next moment. Now it is not possible for us humans to make these calculations exactly due to the fact that we do not have instruments that can measure with absolute precision. Another roadblock to us being able to get anything useful out of this theory, is that the amount of variables that have an effect on something are infinate. Although we cannot calculate exactly what something will do, "physics" can and does.

Now if this can be applied to objects, I figure it can be applied to atoms, electrons, quarks, and whatever other particles we haven't discovered yet. These small particles make up everything larger than them, and therefore control everything from your thought to a planet's motion. Now with "physics" calculating everything in our universe, my theory is that the next moment after the present one is predestined and cannot be escaped. Likewise, the moment after that is a direct result of the moment before it, and on into infinity. Theoretically, we could predict the future if we had a computer that could process reality faster than it occured. This is impossible, unless it's predestined to happen, of course ;).

If this theory holds true, this means that nothing that presently happens has any relevance on the outcome of the universe, but that we are all just along for the ride (predestination in its ultimate sense). This being the case, the only event that has had any bearing on the grand scheme of things is the formation of the universe. If the universe has always been here and will always be here (the alpha and the omega as Xan Kregor would say), then there was actully no event that has ever mattered, but this is a whole other discussion.

Assuming there are no errors in my logic, and that I have not made any misjudgements about physics, the only way I can see my theory not working is if there is a another power higher than the laws of physics (some would call it a god). If this "god" had the power to alter physics, and took advantage of this ability, it makes my whole theory invalid. If I have made any errors during the formulation of this theory, feel free to let me know.

Notes:

• Originally written: May 24, 2000 (this version is unedited from its original form)

• Here's a quote that uses the basis for my theory, and arrives at a different conclusion:
"The activities of a living organism appear to be, if not purely deterministic, at least statistically deterministic. Quantum indeterminacy appears to play no role apart, possibly, from such accidental events as meiosis and mutation. If my body functions as a pure mechanism, yet I am sure that I am determining its motions, then I must be the person who controls the motion of the atoms in accordance with the laws of nature. I must therefore be God."
  - Schrodinger

• Since I've written this, BBC reported that researchers were able to make a photon of light exist in 2 places at the same time. If this proves to be a repeatable phenomenon, it would then be impossible to predict the future under the laws of modern physics. The core of my theory, however, would still remain true because it is based on the relationship of cause and effect, and only uses physics as a way to explain it.

• I am, indeed, not the first person to have held this theory. I had not heard about it at the time that I thought it up, but I did feel that someone had probably already come up with it. I have since come across information confirming this suspicion.