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Can MATH predict your FUTURE?

2025-08-09 Science & Technology
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Arvin Ash
Arvin Ash
1.1m subscribers

Physics and the Universe: Can We Truly Predict the Future?

Determine whether classical mechanics, chaos theory, or quantum mechanics currently sets the ultimate limit on predicting the future, examining if the universe is a predictable clockwork machine or an inherently probabilistic system.

Short Summary

  • Predictability in classical physics fails in practice for chaotic systems (like weather) due to measurement limitations (Butterfly Effect).
  • Quantum mechanics imposes a fundamental, built-in randomness that prevents perfect future prediction at the microscopic scale.
  • Macro-scale phenomena, like planetary orbits, remain highly predictable because quantum uncertainty vanishes due to decoherence.
  • The video traces the concept of determinism from Newton and Laplace through the challenges posed by nonlinearity and quantum observation.

This content explores the concept of universal predictability from the perspective of physics. It contrasts the ideal determinism suggested by Newtonian laws against the practical limits imposed by Chaos Theory and the fundamental statistical nature introduced by Quantum Mechanics. Understanding these boundaries clarifies what aspects of the future—from stellar movements to weather patterns—we can realistically map out.

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Description

Thanks again to our sponsor of the day CyberghostVPN, you can take advantage of an 84% discount, i.e. $2.03 per month + 4 months free by clicking on this link: https://cyberghostvpn.com/ArvinAsh TALK TO ARVIN https://www.patreon.com/arvinash FURTHER VIEWING: Copenhagen vs Many Worlds: https://youtu.be/OjrEudqgZ1M Pilot Wave theory: https://youtu.be/eNJFUo7yHhQ Goodbye determism: https://youtu.be/EyvZ8F3qLx8 Quantum mechanics intro: https://youtu.be/fP2TAw7NnVU Superdeterminism: https://youtu.be/tzPqOS8HC8o Butterfly Effect: https://youtu.be/XjxNjspwebU CHAPTERS 0:00 The future from numbers? 1:17 Laplace's Demon and Predictability 4:35 Chaos: the first "problem" 6:48 BUT Chaos is predictable in theory 8:18 Quantum Mechanics and predictability 10:20 Heisenberg Uncertainty principle: limit on precision 10:58 Even weirder quantum mechanics 12:04 How quantum mechanics be deterministic 13:54 "known" laws of physics could be wrong 16:03 Verdict on macro scale predictability SUMMARY Can Physics predict the future? Is the universe fundamentally predictable? Sir Isaac Newton found that his laws could explain most things through mathematical laws. Pierre-Simon Laplace. He imagined a super-intelligent being, Laplace’s demon, who if he had Newton’s equations and unlimited brainpower, could use them to compute the past and the future of the entire universe with perfect accuracy. What’s the problem? Well, there’s a catch. Knowing “perfect information” about every little particle is practically impossible. This is Chaos theory, where a tiny difference in initial conditions, can lead to a totally different outcome down the line. This is called the butterfly effect. It’s “sensitive dependence on initial conditions.” Even though the weather obeys deterministic equations, in practice we can’t measure the starting conditions perfectly enough to predict the distant future. Other systems are also chaotic: the turbulent flow of water, the stock market. So, even though Newton’s equations are deterministic, our ability to use them as a crystal ball is limited. But even though systems like the double pendulum, weather, and turbulent fluid flow, are unpredictable, they are unpredictable only because we cannot measure the smallest variations in their initial conditions. But if we had perfect information or perfectly precise measurement tools, all these systems would be predictable. So the future behavior of macroscale chaotic phenomena like these are predictable in principle. A big problem to predictability is from quantum mechanics. At a microscopic scale, nature is not deterministic but probabilistic. It appears to be a fundamental feature of the universe, not lack of knowledge. One can experiment with an atom or electron exactly the same way each time, but get different results in a random pattern. We can calculate the odds of each result, but we cannot predict the behavior of individual particles. Take radioactive decay. We can measure a half-life – the time by which half of them will have decayed on average – but we have no way to know when an individual atom will decay. This fundamental randomness is a built-in limit on predictability. #determinism Also, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, shows that we also have a limit on the precision with which we can know certain pairs of properties. We can’t know a particle’s position and momentum with infinite precision. If you can’t know them exactly now, you can’t plug them into an equation to predict the future exactly either. It gets weirder: quantum mechanics, says a particle doesn’t even have a definite position or outcome until you measure it. It exists in a sort of superposition of possibilities. We can call it a wave of probability. The Schrödinger equation lets us predict how this wave of probability evolves over time, so that part is deterministic. Some scientists argue that we are just missing information in a fundamentally predictable universe. However, there’s no experimental evidence of these hidden variables. And experiments on Bell’s theorem have demonstrated that A local hidden variable theory is likely wrong. So if there are hidden variables, they’d have to be non local hidden variables, like particles influencing other particles faster than light, or particles would need to be intertwined with everything in the universe in a conspiracy-like way. But just because quantum phenomena cannot be predicted in advance, it doesn't mean that macro-scale phenomena are also unpredictable. Quantum effects typically become negligible at everyday scales due to decoherence, Things like planetary orbits, solar eclipses, and tides are completely predictable years and decades in advance because they are based on deterministic physics, where quantum effects are negligible. But other phenomena that we consider chaotic today, the stock market, are also predictable in principle because they are based on deterministic physics. We need better models and more precise data.

Top Comments (10)

@ArvinAsh 2025-08-09

Thanks again to our sponsor of the day CyberghostVPN, you can take advantage of an 84% discount, i.e. $2.03 per month + 4 months free by clicking on this link: https://cyberghostvpn.com/ArvinAsh

13 2 replies
@Italianjedi7 2025-08-10

Wow 5 years! That’s an optimistic prediction. I hope you’re right

9
@APOLLOSTEES 2025-08-09

Arvin you are an excellent teacher. I've heard science Youtubers describe determinism many times. But it really clicked for me this time. Thank you.

14
@JohnHenke-xr9wk 2025-08-09

Entropy and chaos will prevail

18 1 replies
@drbuckley1 2025-08-09

Five years, eh? I'll check back on that.

19 1 replies
@uzb_prog 2025-09-17

I found your channel about a month or two. And now you're my one of the most favorite science content creators. Keep up💌

3
@snappycat_times_ten 2025-08-09

I predicted that this question would not be definitively answered.

90 12 replies
@toddherron4832 2025-08-10

Please do a video (with math) that shows mathematically why General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics are incompatible and what each theory predicts that is so different from the other.

15 5 replies
@seq31 2025-08-11

As my computer science professor taught me, if you want to calculate what happens 1 minute in the future in the universe, you need a universe size computer, and run it for 1 minute. There is no way around it, not even in theory. Anything less than that, and you need to make shortcuts and simplifications, decreasing accuracy. At least if the universe is deterministic. If not deterministic, then even that is not enough. That's why it will forever be practically impossible.

9 1 replies
@daviddaygame 2025-08-11

Hard to predict ≠ unpredictable.

1

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