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Answer by alanf for Causation in physics equation

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Granted that physicists have always been concerned about causation, the laws of physics stated in terms of equations have nothing to say about causation. Are they correlational laws?

The laws of physics stated in equations constrain causal relationships. For example, there are many theorems about how events can depend on one another in general relativity:

https://arxiv.org/abs/2009.07555

In quantum theory it is also possible to reach conclusions about how different systems interact to cause the results of experiments:

https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9906007

https://arxiv.org/abs/1109.6223

Those equations are part of the explanations physicists provide for how the world works, why specific events happen and so on. The laws of physics are not about correlations any more than the claim that dinosaurs existed is about dinosaur fossils.


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