> So, in this universe I've created, prediction and whatever-the-word-is-I'll-call-it-sorcery-for-now are the same thing. Predicting that something will happen is exactly the same as making your thought come true. [skip] I believe that our thoughts can, perhaps not consciously and not all the time, affect reality. Or, more accurately, we are occasionally destined to have predictions which are predicted to become true.

Determinism plus probability equals fate? The idea makes sense, but, if it's true, it's profoundly uninteresting. To a certain extent, it IS true, but this might not be the way you meant it. Some things are guaranteed to happen: If one predicts that a dropped brick will fall, or that a head will be softer than a brick, or that a brick dropped on a head will hurt, these predictions will be correct. If one examines the trajectory of the brick when it flies toward the head and is only a fraction of an inch away, predicting that it will plunge into the head is gory, but not special.

The path of the brick can be determined easily with a grounding in physics. What would be really cool, though, is if we could easily gather the data and refine the physics so we could predict with equal ease the color of a person's socks the following day.

>I usually refrain from discussing my beliefs in public, and especially near religious types that seem all too keen to banish my immortal soul to warmer climes.

> Matthew

Bah. Go to Tahiti.

Ga"Maybe those telephone psychics missed their real callings."be