> This is sort of a round-about way of saying what I'm trying to say, so please bear with me:
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> Scientists have recently made use of a transparent chamber filled with cesium gas, which is normally used to amplify light, to instead speed it up to 300 times c in a vacuum (55.8 million miles per hour). The end apparent result is the beam already exiting the chamber BEFORE it ever enters the chamber in the first place.
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> The explanation so far runs along the lines of a "precursor" to the light beam, that contains all of the information about the beam, hits the cesium first, and the cesium atoms rebuild the beam of light based on the information in the precursor, and the precursor then bounces back and cancels out the original beam as it enters the chamber, leaving just the "future" beam that's by now already left the chamber.
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> At least, that's the explanation they gave for the phenomena. Personally, it's way over my head and I think they're just guessing.
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> Anyway, the moral of the story is, paradoxes (including "apparent" paradoxes) ARE allowed to exist in this universe, but they probaby also have really complicated answers. Light IS allowed to leave the chamber before it ever entered, and free will and predestination ARE allowed to both be true at the same time. I have seen evidence of both in my life.
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> I personally can easily grasp each one, but not both together... but my failure to grasp the concept does not make it any less true.
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> - Enigma

Forgive this post, I'm just having fun with this scenario. The analogy Enigma used can, maybe, become an example.

So, suppose this chamber was circular. Would the beam of light keep going around and around, getting continually earlier until there's an appreciable amount of difference? I don't know, but it makes for an interesting line of thought.

Say you hooked up a computer and a laser to this contraption. The laser is used to send signals, which can be decoded by another gizmo somewhere. The user at the computer has two windows open. Into one, he types anything he pleases. In the other, what he has typed appears 5 seconds before he will type it. Since our hypothetical scientist can clearly see both windows, a problem of free will and predestination pops up.

Does the scientist pick what to type by means of his own free choice, or did he only type it because he saw it written below?

gab"Instead of free will and predestination being continually forced to reconcile, I've decided that they are one and the same thing."by