> Determinism plus probability equals fate?

How you got from my words to that equation, I will never know. And I can't even understand it, so I can't reply.

> Some things are guaranteed to happen: If one predicts that a dropped brick will fall, (...physics...). The path of the brick can be determined easily with a grounding in physics.

In my post, I mentioned that that influencing standard physical things *isn't* something that we do. It may or may not be possible, but I skirted around that. The laws of motion etc. really do work the way we think they do, prediction or no prediction.

> What would be really cool, though, is if we could easily gather the data and refine the physics so we could predict with equal ease the color of a person's socks the following day.

That exists. It's called statistical analysis. However, that kind of situation is what I was trying to get at - by subtle (and normally subconscious) influence, we could make someone wear a certain pair of socks. That, seen after the event, would be called "prediction." It's my belief that prediction and making-stuff-happen are one and the same, and possible.

Mattjew