\nThe simplest definition of free will is the ability to have made a different choice. Our more precise definition: it is the ability of conscious beings to make choices that are not solely determined by prior physical causes. Since...\nThe simplest definition of free will is the ability to have made a different choice. Our more precise definition: it is the ability of conscious beings to make choices that are not solely determined by prior physical causes.
Since Newton, we had thought that we could predict the outcome of every particle interaction if we had full knowledge of all the physical variables. So that meant the universe must be deterministic. But in the 20th century, quantum mechanics more precisely predicted behavior of particles at the smallest scales, but it predicts only probabilities.
According to it, particles like electrons don't have specific positions, speeds, or paths until they are measured. Instead, they exist in a superposition, a kind of coexistence of all possible states, until the moment they interact with something. This is also called a measurement. For example, we can only ascertain the probability of finding an electron in any particular location, until the moment we measure it. Only then, do we know for certain where it is. So the result of a quantum interaction is indeterministic. Does this indeterminacy save free will?
Suppose we could wind the clock back to make a different decision, while keeping everything the same. In other words, all the quantum states and other microscopic details would need to be identical. In a classical deterministic universe, the outcome would be exactly the same. The choice would be determined from its initial state. So in such a universe, there is no such thing as having made a different choice.
But with quantum mechanics, there is randomness, because different outcomes can occur from the same initial conditions. In QM, we cannot predict ahead of time the outcome of any interaction based on its initial conditions. The result of an interaction, which we sometimes label as measurement, or observation ,will be random.
But is this free will because given the same initial state, there could have been a different outcome? Just because there can be a different outcome, doesn’t mean that we manifested that outcome. It doesn't mean free will. It just means that some properties of elementary particles turned out to be different with the same initial state.
The idea of making a decision is not part of the fundamental laws of physics. Making decisions is an emergent phenomenon that is due to the various electrical and chemical interactions and processes taking place in our brain. And these are due to a lot of different factors. It is something we experience only at human-scales not at a fundamental level. Decisions are classical events, not quantum ones.
But if decisions are controlled by the firing of neurons, then according to quantum mechanics there would be some scenarios in which my neurons could fire in low probability unexpected ways, and that could result in my having made a different decision. So even though a certain decision might have a one in a billion chance of occurring, it is still possible. Since I made a different choice that was unexpected, isn’t that free will?
While your neurons could fire in unexpected ways free will is the idea that you have control over your decisions, that you could have made a different choice deliberately and consciously. Quantum mechanics has an element of randomness, but this randomness cannot be controlled by you. #freewill
Your thoughts and decisions do not play a role in the outcome of quantum interactions. So this randomness really does not save free will. If free will is the ability of conscious beings to make choices that are not solely determined by prior physical causes, I think we have to conclude that we don’t have such an ability. Quantum mechanics really should not affect your stance on free will.
But we are making conscious decisions based on a thought process that is our own and no one else’s. So we are not absolved of our responsibility. No one is pulling the strings. We don’t have the right to say that any action we take is not our own. \n
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free will, study of philosophy, what is free will, physics of free will, does free will exist, compatibilism, does quantum mechanics save free will, is free will an illusion, do we have free will, why we dont have free will, does the randomness of quantum physics save free will, does randomness mean free will, philosophy of free will, fundamental level, conscious beings, prior physical, microscopic details, initial conditions, emergent phenomenon, human skills, particle interactions, chemical interactions, initial state, clock back, solely determined, make choices
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