[dogscoff]

thus nullifying existing predictions.

Quarian, you're still not getting it it. The predictions are irrelevant. Under determinsism, you are just a bunch of particles bouncing around, following the only path through history they possibly could have from their random creation in the Big Bang. The universe doesn't care whether you "predict" or "know" things or not, because your "knowledge" is just a complex pattern of matter in your "brain", which itself is nothing more than a bunch of atoms that happen to be hanging out together for a while because physics put them there.
Under determinism, you have no free will because in any given set of circumstances your atoms can only take one path- the path determined by the laws of physics. There is no possible alternative, no choice, no decision and no free will.

Determinism is a little more annoying since it relies on supernatural influence

No it doesn't. It absolutely does NOT. Determinism is the absolute extreme non-spiritual, absolutely physical view of the universe. It is the logical extreme of the assumption that everything in the universe is governed by a set of utterly consistent physical laws and nothing else- an assumption that has been central to science for centuries. The introduction of any supernatural presence would mean something affecting events from outside those laws, and so introduce unknown variables and screw everything up.

As for the speed of light, even if the way things react to circumstances change under those conditions, they will still be bound by a set of consistent rules.

Quantum mechanics introduces doubt to the determinist argument by taking the "utterly consistent" out of the physical laws. That's why it's so contraversial and ground-breaking. It still doesn't necessarily introduce a god or soul, although it doesn't rule them out completely either.

EDIT: I hadn't read Kamog's post. Good point.

[ March 21, 2003, 08:57: Message edited by: dogscoff ]