42
4 The Datum DialogueQuotation
Location Time JOHN: “Thats a nice thought, right? Everything
has a purpose. An order to it. Is determined.” 00:13:44-00:13:52
During a lecture, MIT astrophysics professor John Koestler asks his students to define and differentiate randomness and determinism. Determinism,
answers one student, is the belief that a chain of events leads to a specific conclusion, that there is an order to things. Here, John tells about determinism in
scientist vision to his students. He begins to teach what exactly determinism is. Scientists seemed to give mathematical rigor to the philosophy, leading
many to conclude that humans had no real free will, but that all was determined by the impersonal math and physics. Fortunately, things muddied up considerably
with the rise of quantum mechanics and it has only become muddier since then. In all cases, though, purpose is not a part of determinism in and of itself.
There are questions include in Knowing, such as, is the universe deterministic? Can you know the future? Knowing approach the questions quite
differently, with Knowing taking a much broader brush across the questions. The phenomena of theory of determinism found in Knowing movie are:
4.2.1 The world is deterministic
According to John Leslie in The End of the World, if the world is deterministic, and then the grounds can be disturbingly strong Leslie, 2003:188. In either case
they could be reinforcing grounds even if they had no power by themselves. For, as will be explained in a moment, they could magnify any risk-estimates that were
reached by considering such things as super solar flare.
43
Deterministic means that if you have a complete understanding of the laws of physics, you can predict with certainty everything that will happen after
for example the universe is created in the Big Bang. In this case, it was revealed in dialog 5.
No The Datum DialogueQuotation
Location Time 5 STACEY STUDENT: “What do you believe?”
JOHN: “I think shit just happens. But thats me.” 00:14:46-00:14:52
The dialog takes place in an MIT classroom, where Prof. Koestler and his students, wrestle intellectually with the question of determinism versus
randomness. He starts to doubt if the universe is just a series of random acts, when his son receives a list of numbers that point to disasters and casualties over 50
years. Of course it isnt that simple. The professor offered a false choice to his class. No one thinks the universe is random, except possibly at a quantum level,
and lets not go there. Gravity doesnt randomly switch off. Light doesnt randomly alter its speed. The classical philosophical choice is between determinism and free
will.
4.2.2 The Number Prophecy is Dictated
At first John dismisses the page, but catches a pattern in the numbers corresponding to the date of every major human disaster on the planet over the
last fifty years. If the page is accurate, it would mean tomorrow would predict the death of 81 individuals and sure enough, a plane falls out of the sky and kills 81
people, right in John’s backyard. Not literally, of course, but down the street.
44
The events are deterministic is revealed when John examine the number, For example, it was revealed in datum 10 below.
No The Datum DialogueQuotation
Location Time 10 JOHN: “So, tomorrow, somewhere on the planet,
this number string predicts that 81 people are gonna die in some kind of tragedy.”
00:26:46-00:26:56
Struggling to rationalize his scientific belief and his faith, John tries to predict where the next event will occur, but has no how he can stop them from
occurring. Even more alarming, his boy Caleb is being visited by ominous apocalyptic imagery and haunting black figures who whisper directly into his
head. Together with the daughter of Lucinda, Diana the parents desperately try to unlock the secret behind the numbers, and the very fate of humanity.
The numbers on Lucindas page are rigidly deterministic: On this date, in this place, these many people will die, and there is nothing to be done, a fact
illustrated when Koestler tries to prevent a subway tragedy, and fails spectacularly. This is revealed in datum 14 below.
No The Datum DialogueQuotation
Location Time 14 FBI on phone: “FBI New York.
How may I direct your call?” JOHN on phone: “The attack will take place
tomorrow at the corner of Lafayette and Worth streets. Corner off the area after midnight.
Are you clear on that? FBI on phone: “Sir, let me pass you through to
our...” JOHN on phone: “Please Do exactly as I say or
many people will die. This is not a crank call. “
00:55:43-00:56:01
45
John warns to department of Homeland Security that the terrorist attack will take place tomorrow at the corner of Lafayette and Worth streets. But
in reality, the terrorist attack never happens. His prediction was wrong, the disaster that happens is subway accident. Not on above the ground, but under the
ground. The only truth is the number of victim. When John Koestler examines the numbers, he finds they predict every
major disaster that happened during the time the capsule was buried. The numbers predict the exact date of the event, the exact number of people killed and the exact
geographical coordinates of the event. There are multiple problems with this, the main one being that such detailed advance knowledge would require actual time
travel to achieve. This is revealed in datum 6 below. No
The Datum DialogueQuotation Location Time
6 JOHN: “91 11 012996.
In memory of the 2996 lives that were lost that day. ‘2996’
Cmon What the hell is this?”
00:23:04-00:23:46
And datum 8 No
The Datum DialogueQuotation Location Time
8 JOHN: “Look at this. Look at the numbers beside the
dates. 2996. Thats how many people died in the attacks that day.”
00:26:25-00:26:32
The number of people killed, for instance, isnt necessarily the exact number of dead, which may never be known in a major disaster like an
earthquake, conflagrations, massive explosions or the 911 attacks. The numbers provided in the film are the official government numbers as reported in the news
46
media. 2966 is the number of victims who are died there. The only way to know the official number as reported by the news media in advance is to somehow get
that number in the future and transmit it back through time. This is impossible according to todays science.
Prophecy is a feature of all the major monotheistic religions, so many people are predisposed to believe at least in the possibility of such prophesies as
those in the movie. Even some non-believers might alternatively buy into such nonsense as the prophesies of Nostradamus, or Jeane Dixon or other astrologers
and sham artists. None of these, however, has ever provided predictions anywhere near as precise and detailed as those in this movie. Most so-called predictions,
such as astrological predictions are the result of semantics, using words and phrases which seem to be specific, but are, in fact, quite general. Semantic tricks,
coupled with the tendency of believers to selectively retain and discard predictive results according to their beliefs and to see patterns where none exist, have kept
astrologers in money for hundreds of years. Then again, there is science fiction legend Arthur C. Clarkes second and third laws of prediction, which state, “The
only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible,” and “Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic.” But its not quite that simple. For one thing, how do you conveniently
get an exact count on a death toll via a cable news flash? It often takes days to find bodies after an earthquake, for example, and some victims may linger for
47
weeks. And were the numbers dictated by a supernatural power, or by a higher order of natural power? That leads directly to a question at the end of the film.
4.2.3 The future is unpredictable
