自然界系统的当前状态显然是前一时刻的结果，如果我们设想一个智能体在某一瞬间理解了宇宙中所有实体的关系，它就能陈述这些实体在过去或未来的任何时间的各自位置、运动和一般效应。
The present state of the system of nature is evidently a consequence of what it was in the preceding moment, and if we conceive of an intelligence which at a given instant comprehends all the relations of the entities of this universe, it could state the respective positions, motions, and general effects of all these entities at any time in the past or future.
