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Physical unknowables

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Paper breakdownThe authors' claims, conditions and measurements, as JSON Signed receiptProof this review has not been altered
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Karl Svozil

General Physics · Submitted 15 Jan 2007

abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review

The authors' main claim Provable lack of physical omniscience, omnipredictability and omnipotence is derived by reduction to problems which are known to be recursively unsolvable.

how it is stated · asserted 1.00 read the record →

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arXiv IDphysics/0701163 (version 4)
Pith IDYR3I4I5W, Pith's permanent record of this paper and its review
CitationKarl Svozil. "Physical unknowables." arXiv:physics/0701163 (2007). https://pith.science/paper/YR3I4I5W
Claim paper

The compiled record

The paper's own sentences, arranged. Each label is drawn from a closed vocabulary; the number beside it is the probability the classifier gave that label. Numbers in the tables are the authors', checked by code. No sentence in this record was written by a model.

Open the compiled record

Compiled by classifier-1.13.0 via TypeSafe API, question bank abstract-p1-20260923, 2026-09-23: 1 request, 3,494 input tokens.

What the abstract itself states, as probabilities: claims first 0.03 · states limitation 0.10 · human participants 0.03 · controlled comparison 0.01 · randomized assignment 0.01 · states quantitative result 0.03 · compares with prior results 0.06 · mentions code or data availability 0.02.

The abstract, sentence by sentence

arXiv listing abstract v4. Results and the main claim are underlined; .

A variety of physical unknowables are discussed. Provable lack of physical omniscience, omnipredictability and omnipotence is derived by reduction to problems which are known to be recursively unsolvable. "Chaotic" symbolic dynamical systems are unstable with respect to variations of initial states. Quantum unknowables include the random occurrence of single events, complementarity and value indefiniteness.

background contribution method result interpretation main claim

What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#sentencerolethe authors' own workstates the main conclusionstrength
s0 A variety of physical unknowables are discussed. contribution 0.77 0.74 0.05 asserted 0.86
s1 Provable lack of physical omniscience, omnipredictability and omnipotence is derived by reduction to problems which are known to be recursively unsolvable. result 0.73 0.84 0.74 asserted 1.00
s2 "Chaotic" symbolic dynamical systems are unstable with respect to variations of initial states. background 0.79 0.13 0.04 asserted 1.00
s3 Quantum unknowables include the random occurrence of single events, complementarity and value indefiniteness. result 0.39 0.17 0.10 asserted 1.00

What kind of paper the classifier reports this is: theoretical result 0.90 · evidence from proof or derivation 0.99.

What was examined, and what was not

sources read
  • arXiv listing abstract v4
not examined
  • full text
  • figures and tables
  • references and citing sentences
  • relations to other papers
levels run
  • P abstract
not run
  • S sections
  • T body sentences
  • C citations
  • R cross-paper relations

Every quoted sentence on this record is the authors'. Every label is from Pith's closed vocabulary, with the probability shown beside it. Every number in the measurements table is the authors', checked by code. Record as JSON

The paper
Original abstract

A variety of physical unknowables are discussed. Provable lack of physical omniscience, omnipredictability and omnipotence is derived by reduction to problems which are known to be recursively unsolvable. "Chaotic" symbolic dynamical systems are unstable with respect to variations of initial states. Quantum unknowables include the random occurrence of single events, complementarity and value indefiniteness.

Human review

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How the literature uses it

4 arXiv papers cite this in 5 sentences

Each citing sentence is taken from the citing paper's LaTeX source and typed by Pith's classifier. A label appears at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), a contest at 0.7 or more; the quoted words are the citing authors'. How each label was checked · JSON

Papers citing it · 4 sentences without a confident label

Cites it as background 1 paper
  • We shall first present some nomenclature, followed by subjective motivation to pursue metaphysical questions of existence pertinent to the topics discussed, and present a very brief historic account on physical unknowables [ref] .

    Locating possible sources of physical indeterminism · Introduction · 0.98

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