[ale] [OT] Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent or Not.

[Irv Mullins]

On Monday 25 August 2003 10:57 pm, ChangingLINKS.com wrote:

> How can an event be "random" if you know the outcome?
>
> (If you flip a coin, and you *know* it is going to land on heads
> immediately - how is that random?

I flipped a coin yesterday, and it landed heads. I *know* it landed heads.
Does that mean the flip wasn't random? Of course not. 

Your whole argument then boils down to one of timing - if I know the outcome  
*before* the coin lands, then it cannot be random, but if I know it "after", 
then it can be random. 

But who's to say that your concept of linear, uni-directional time flow is the 
only one in the cosmos? Is it not possible that for someone somewhere, the 
coin lands *before* it is flipped? If so, would that mean that there could be 
no such thing as randomness? I think the coin would still have two sides, and 
would still land Heads sometimes and Tails other times. 

Perhaps there are even creatures for whom time is not a constraint - they are 
able to see the outcome of something simultaneously with its beginning. 
How many sides would their coins have?

Irv


















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