Re:There’s No Such Thing as Free Will
by jasonwatkinspdx on Friday May 20, 2016 @02:43PM
(#11740398)
This article presents determinism as certain. That's not the case.
In terms of fundamental physics we know probabilities are determined, but the exact outcomes are not. There's strong evidence that this isn't a matter of us being ignorant of some hidden deterministic state (Bell's inequality experiments) but rather is fundamental to how our universe works, though it's not a totally settled debate. Whether this gives an escape hatch where our brains are capable of free will is way too complex a question for me to think it'll be settled empirically any time soon, but I personally suspect it's true in a faint way. We're mostly reactive, but have some way to influence those reactions over time.
In terms of fundamental physics we know probabilities are determined, but the exact outcomes are not. There's strong evidence that this isn't a matter of us being ignorant of some hidden deterministic state (Bell's inequality experiments) but rather is fundamental to how our universe works, though it's not a totally settled debate. Whether this gives an escape hatch where our brains are capable of free will is way too complex a question for me to think it'll be settled empirically any time soon, but I personally suspect it's true in a faint way. We're mostly reactive, but have some way to influence those reactions over time.