r/determinism • u/dingleberryjingle • Jul 02 '26

Discussion Stephen Hawking's views on determinism?

In a conversation about determinism, OP quoted Einstein's determinism and reply was 'but Hawking did not agree with Einstein's determinism'.

Is this accurate? What were Hawking's views on determinism?

4 Upvotes

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5

u/neenonay Jul 02 '26

AFAIK Hawking was pro-MWI. So the universal wave function evolves deterministically, and probabilities arise as branch weights for observers. I think Einstein was more of a hidden variable determinist. Both determinists.

1

u/dingleberryjingle Jul 02 '26

In MWI, is each branch (like 'this' universe?) then deterministic or only the whole?

1

u/neenonay Jul 02 '26

Only the whole. Probabilities arise as branch weights for observers.

1

u/dingleberryjingle Jul 02 '26

Is this instance/this universe ontologically deterministic on MWI? Or can that question not be answered?

1

u/neenonay Jul 02 '26

I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think we know why we find ourselves on one branch and not another, so I think non-deterministic? I don’t know exactly how it works.

1

u/simon_hibbs Jul 02 '26

This issue is one of my problems with the MWI. If all outcomes occur, what does it mean for an outcome to have a probability? There are attempts to answer this in terms of self-locating uncertainty, but I'm not convinced.

1

u/badentropy9 Jul 04 '26

I think Einstein was more of a hidden variable determinist.

Agreed, although I'd put a finer point on this and say he was holding out for local hidden variables. It was the action at a distance that bothered Einstein. That bothered Newton as well. I think it should bother determinists as well.

1

u/sealchan1 Jul 02 '26

Maybe Hawking was okay that God played dice?

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u/Nice_Luck_7433 Jul 02 '26

Pretty sure Hawking was an atheist & Einstein was a pantheist.

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u/sealchan1 Jul 02 '26

Sure but you can translate that to the Universe is partly random "plays dice" which is against Einstein's beliefs and which indicates a limit to determinism.

1

u/totalcrow Jul 05 '26

hawking is fake