Very good answers Bill S but I fear TT will give us a very verbose reply that will say the usual absolute nothing.
So lets pose a task to TT and lets see if he can give an actual answer. Does such a thing as "free will" actually exist?
Many religions and philosophies believe in "fate" and "gods will" in my science area QM the same problem crops up a resonable but not brilliant discussion is on arxiv (
http://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/0208104.pdf)
So TT question 1 do you believe in free will and why?
The second question has already been sort of posed by Bill S in an indirect way is this universe and life real?
Many religions and philosophies believe this is just some existential playground and again the problem pops up in science (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time)
In my own area of QM science "reality" is among those ellusive controversial things we discuss. In my opinion none discuss it simpler or clearer than sascha vongehr (
http://www.science20.com/alpha_meme/are_you_real_quantum_mechanics-90221)
Basically as he describes we scientists break into two camps and his description I love :-)
The “nutty nuts camp” supposedly consists of silly freaks that lost their marbles, you know, like me. They ramble about quantum mechanics supposedly showing how observers are ghosts hanging from non existent purple clouds in the sky of transcendent idealism while there is no reality; they call it anti-realism or what not. Yeah – Nuts – I told you so!
Then there is the “real reality camp”, which consists of nice people who stick to “common sense” and who hold science is about uncovering how the reality out there really works. The latter camp has support from quite a number of popular science writers and accomplished scientists, much more than the nutty nuts camp, where scientists usually only go after they got past their sell by date, the age where physicists should be put down for their own good.
So even at a science level reality is problematic and scientists will break into two so called camps.
I have a funny anecdote from this week which fits in this discussion.
A student studying QM and after an electron split beam lab showing an electron passsed through both slits or one slit depending how you observe it. With a troubled look they walked up and asked me "is an electron real" it has charge and mass and a bunch of properties they could cite but they struggled how it could pass through both slits. I never lie to students and my answer was as accurate as I could give and I said "you have defined the properties of an electron what you have not defined for me is real and there in lies your answer". Stunned the student looked at me and sneared "everyone knows what real is". I simply asked then in your real world is a rainbow real, see things can be observable but not real?
So what say you about reality TT?
