Well said! And very useful. Your set of links make this a useful resource for all. I hope that we can explore many of the issues that you have brought here over the next 4 months, both here in this blog, and in class. I appreciate your skepticism, but I, too, have come to believe Paul's assertion (not proof) that some deterministic systems (where there is absolutely no chance of chance entering the picture) cannot be predicted. Whether or not you find a way to predict them in the future, I think that this is the fundamental difference between "computational" models, versus "mathematical" models. And a key aspect of emergence. We'll discuss this more, no doubt. (Also, I don't think that one can eliminate the divine... it isn't science, and so lies outside of that possibility. But that's another thread...)