All-knowing vs. Randomness

[Just thinking]

Perhaps this belongs more in Philosophy, but there is a scientific angle in this as well. If it was possible to be aware of everything in the entire Universe (such as a god that was fully omniscient) would one conclude that randomness still existed?

 

[Cuddles]

It could do. It depends what you mean by "aware of everything". If you mean only everything in the present, then it says absolutely nothing about randomness. An omniscient being could be aware of the exact position and state of a radioactive particle, but if decay is truly random then it still wouldn't know anything about when it will decay. Omnisicience and randomness only don't work together if you subscribe to a completely deterministic universe. Current thinking is that the universe is not completely deterministic and therefore randomness can still exist.

 

[Just thinking]

An omniscient being could be aware of the exact position and state of a radioactive particle, but if decay is truly random then it still wouldn't know anything about when it will decay.

This statement seems to fly in opposition to true omniscience -- how can it be true?

 

[Cuddles]

This statement seems to fly in opposition to true omniscience -- how can it be true?

Because if radioactive decay is truly random then there is nothing to know about it. Knowing absolutely everything about a particle does not give you any information about a random event in its future, that information simply does not exist. Omniscience means knowing everything that is it is possible to know. If something is not possible to know then it is not covered by omniscience and can exist at the same time.

As an analogy, take omnipresence. Can an omnipresent being be north of the north pole? Of course not, such a concept simply does not exist. The same is true for omniscience, if information does not exist then even an omniscient being does not know it. A truly random event is one for which there is no information prior to it occuring, and therefore falls into this category.