From: "Robert Comer" 

> A little cryptic for me. Are you speculating about why the universe might
> behave unpredictably, or why a result of being unpredictable could be a
> lack of intelligent lifeforms.

Simple, there *is* unpredictability built into the Universe, yet we still
have intelligence -- so I was just asking why you thought predictability
had anything to do with it.

> I was just playing Geo's thought experiment and remarking that IF the
> universe frequently did unpredictable things (e.g. 2 cups of water
> sometimes is twice as heavy as 1 cup, and sometimes is randomly some other
> weight), then there would be very little reason to be intelligent because
> you couldn't make sense of what was going on.

Okay, amount of predictability, I can understand that, but I'm of the
opinion that it wouldn't make much difference, though genetics would be a
bit tough the way we're built now.

--
Bob Comer


"John Beckett"  wrote
in message news:1423o197grtvtol6hm5k18omunn95edafl{at}4ax.com...
> "Robert Comer"  wrote in message
> news::
>> > Certainly, I would guess that it would be hard to have intelligence if
>> > the
>> > universe frequently behaved in unpredictable ways.
>>
>> Why?  Quantum mechanics?
>
> A little cryptic for me. Are you speculating about why the universe might
> behave unpredictably, or why a result of being unpredictable could be a
> lack of intelligent lifeforms.
>
> I was just playing Geo's thought experiment and remarking that IF the
> universe frequently did unpredictable things (e.g. 2 cups of water
> sometimes is twice as heavy as 1 cup, and sometimes is randomly some other
> weight), then there would be very little reason to be intelligent because
> you couldn't make sense of what was going on.
>
> It's only because our environment DOES behave rationally that being
> rational is an advantage.
>
> John
>

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