I have a Physics Question?

"From what I understand, with physics, everything can be predicted."

While theoretically true in a Newtonian model of the universe, practically this is difficult because of non-linear systems. It means that if you want a prediction that is twice as good, you have to get measurements that are much more than twice as good. Chaotic behavior means that unless your measurements are perfect, you'll hit a point where the uncertainty in the initial conditions swamps the predictive ability of your calculations.

Next is the problem that the universe isn't Newtonian. Under quantum rules, we cannot absolutely predict future events from initial conditions. Some things that happen are purely random.

However, your question about life touches some important philosophical points. Under strict materialism, you are correct. Life is a product of physical objects under all the rules of physics and is therefore as predictable as any other complex physical system. Whether or not humans can make decisions that aren't calculated is a question of free will. Under the view that consciousness is an emergent behavior from the physical brain, then it too is predictable and free will does not exist at that level. You can find many sources discussing these topics.

In the macroscopic world (i.e. objects that are big enough for you to see and touch), physics is deterministic--that is you can know enough about an object's properties to determine what will happen to it in the near future. However, the universe is not governed by macroscopic determinism alone. Microscopic effects from the world of quantum mechanics play a role as well. But in the world of quantum mechanics, one of the fundamental underlying principles is that it is impossible to know an object's mass and velocity at the same time to an arbitrary precision (Heisenberg's uncertainty principle). That doesn't just mean that scientists don't know how to do it, it means that it is impossible to know, partly because the act of observing a particle and measuring its properties changes those properties. Another problem with trying to determine the future relates to chaos theory, which basically just says that future events are so reliant on knowing the initial conditions to such an exact degree that a slight variation in those initial conditions (even just a rounding error) could change the entire outcome of the system. As an example of a chaotic system, look at Brownian motion (which is the seemingly random motion of a particle suspended in a gas or liquid).

Now, when you add life into the mix--especially when there are organisms that can make decisions--you increase the complexity of the question exponentially. No one understands animal brains (let alone human brains) well enough to know why an animal chose action A over action B. For example, take a the case of a rabbit running away from a predator on a large, flat grassy plain (i.e. no obstacles to dodge or hide behind)--you might notice that the rabbit zigs and zags in a seemingly unpredictable manner. How does it choose to turn left instead of right? And why make a turn of 20 degrees and not 40 degrees? Even if you choose to use as your example two kids playing tag in a similar field--why does the kid being chased change his path the way he does? Even he might not be able to tell you.

Overall, though, it's an intersting question and one that scientists have been struggling with for a long time.

This theory assumes that there is no free will. Quantum Physics has an uncertainty principle but I think it overlooks this aspect. If everything were predictable, then I think the universe would be doomed to repeat itself exactly at each cycle, however, free will introduces variables into these equations that randomize the whole show so as to make it more interesting. In a quantum reality, there are bound to be calculations that have a non integer outcome and I call these "between the line" results, uncertainty points where variations in the predictability can occur. Alius

I agree that everything can be predicted, well almost? but there is something that always seems to confound scientists...as soon as scientists try to predict something they are actually tampering with the evidence...the plot seems to get deeper. I think there will always be something that will allude science, Einstein and Steven Hawkins just to name but 2 great minds tend to agree but the rapid escalation of science progress may prove the ultimate theory of everything as in mathematics

but it will still leave a question mark. There is, i think, no start or beginning to the universe,

it is in a state of continuation of expansion and contraction of returning...but i am no scientist either!!!

I watch the science channel also....good isn't it! It makes sense in my head also...ha,ha,ha!!

That's unfortunately incorrect physics cannot predict randomness, Heisenberg uncertainty principle states we cannot know a particle positions and its momentum simultaneously. Therefore even the greatest super computer would not allow us to predict the future of a group of particles.

That's a start.

That idea is called determinism. All physics laws are deterministic. Some however show that it is not possible the gather all this knowledge.

If physics laws rule the world and you know absolutely everything about a person (which is even theoretically impossible) than the answer logically is yes.