Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

   Post 87. June 16, 2019 continued . . . .

  Paradox of FreeWill

   Intuitive Freedom versus Rational Robots

 Apparently, the majority of intuitive people in the world feel free to make choices about their destiny, while a few rational philosophers, theologians, and scientists reason that both divine omniscience and secular cause & effect leave no room for humans to “want what they want”. Nevertheless, like Mr. Unwin, I have concluded that the inexorable power of physical Cause & Effect has an Achilles heel. And that weakness is the Randomness at the root of Quantum Physics. Classical Physics assumed that each cause was inevitably followed by a direct effect. Yet, Quantum Mechanics is not quite so mechanical, but essentially mathematical (i.e. statistical). Hence, experimenters can only predict the future state of a system to some degree of Probability, in a range between 0 and 100% – the Uncertain-ty Principle5. That may be close enough for government work, but scientists pride themselves on precision and exactness.

Likewise, empirical experiments6 by neurologists have shown that the conscious mind has little control over behavior. Yet, even Libet noticed a tiny interval, between an action potential and the actual action, that might allow time for a conscious veto over a predetermined sub-conscious plan-of-action.  So again, it seems reasonable that predestination can be thwarted by a free, un-forced, choice — based on “wants” rather than necessity. In that very narrow sense, the freewill agent is a wild-card Cause within the stacked deck of Determinism. The minuteness of that “gap filler” makes it understandable why the Free-versus-Fate debate has gone on for so long. And it’s not over yet, because nothing about the human Will is known for certain. However, history shows that, collectively, humans7 have imagined a better future (value judgement), and found ways to make it so.

I summarize my personal hypothesis of FreeWill Within Determinism8 as follows : Freewill is the ability of self-conscious beings to choose preferred options from among those that destiny (or subconscious) presents. In the complex (non-linear) network of cause & effect, a node with self-awareness is a causal agent. With multiple Pre-determined inputs, and many Potential outputs, the Self can choose from a wide range of Possibilities, creating local novelty within a globally-deterministic system. So, for an omniscient Creator, or an omnipotent Cause, to allow FreeWill (to fulfill personal wants & wishes) would require a side-road of statistical Chance to provide options and detours from strict Determinism9. In that case, morally responsible free-agency is compatible with divine creation, but not with predestination. It is compatible with the weirdness of Quantum Indeterminacy, but not with the logical necessity of Quantum Mechanics. You might say that the “Laws” of Physics (and of Evolution) are interpreted according to the “Rules” of Randomness. Therefore, if you want to believe that you are a moral agent, feel free. 

PS___As far as we can tell, the statistical dice are not loaded. In that sense, life is fair, but it is not all about you. What counts is how much you bet on each roll of the dice. And the Die is not Cast, until the fat lady sings.

End of Post 87

5. Indeterminacy :
   “Prior to quantum physics, it was thought that
(a) a physical system had a determinate state which uniquely determined all the values of its measurable properties, and conversely
(b) the values of its measurable properties uniquely determined the state.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_indeterminacy

6. Libet Experiment :
   “Since free will is best understood as a complex idea combining two antagonistic concepts - freedom and determination, "free" and "will," . . . . “
http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/libet_experiments.html
Denial of Freewill
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-darkness/201709/benjamin-libet-and-the-denial-free-will

7. Nature vs Culture :
   Nature is clearly determin-istic, but Culture is Mind over Matter. How did the blind mechanisms of Nature build a cybernetic self-control agency (humans) from un-willing atoms?

8. Freewill vs Determinism
  Blog Post 48
http://bothandblog2.enformationism.info/page67.html

Until Caesar crossed the Rubicon, the die was not cast. He could freely choose a different destiny.

Moral Responsibility
to disobey
the law of
cause & effect

God does not play dice

But the piper of physics plays a syncopated tune

The quanta
cha cha

Without FreeWill Nature is value-free

9. If you come to a fork in the road, take it :
   The Freewill Agent doesn’t create the yoke in the road, but he does choose one or the other branch . . . some-times in view of a desired destination, but often by a flip of a coin. Even the coin is free to land heads or tails, and a sequence of flips is randomly distributed instead of rigidly regular.