Free Will and Physics - Waking Life excerpt
Back"In a way, in our contemporary world view, it's easy to think that science has come to take the place of God. But some philosophical problems remain as troubling as ever. Take the problem of free will. This problem has been around for a long time, since before Aristotle in 350 B.C. St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, these guys all worried about how we can be free if God already knows in advance everything you're gonna do. Nowadays we know that the world operates according to some fundamental physical laws, and these laws govern the behavior of every object in the world. Now, these laws, because they're so trustworthy, they enable incredible technological achievements. But look at yourself. We're just physical systems too, right? We're just complex arrangements of carbon molecules. We're mostly water, and our behavior isn't gonna be an exception to these basic physical laws. So it starts to look like whether its God setting things up in advance and knowing everything you're gonna do or whether it's these basic physical laws governing everything, there's not a lot of room left for freedom.
So now you might be tempted to just ignore the question, ignore the mystery of free will. Say "Oh, well, it's just an historical anecdote. It's sophomoric. It's a question with no answer. Just forget about it." But the question keeps staring you right in the face. You think about individuality for example, who you are. Who you are is mostly a matter of the free choices that you make. Or take responsibility. You can only be held responsible, you can only be found guilty, or you can only be admired or respected for things you did of your own free will. So the question keeps coming back, and we don't really have a solution to it. It starts to look like all our decisions are really just a charade.
Think about how it happens. There's some electrical activity in your brain. Your neurons fire. They send a signal down into your nervous system. It passes along down into your muscle fibers. They twitch. You might, say, reach out your arm. It looks like it's a free action on your part, but every one of those - every part of that process is actually governed by physical law, chemical laws, electrical laws, and so on.
So now it just looks like the big bang set up the initial conditions, and the whole rest of human history, and even before, is really just the playing out of subatomic particles according to these basic fundamental physical laws. We think we're special. We think we have some kind of special dignity, but that now comes under threat. I mean, that's really challenged by this picture.
So you might be saying, "Well, wait a minute. What about quantum mechanics? I know enough contemporary physical theory to know it's not really like that. It's really a probabilistic theory. There's room. It's loose. It's not deterministic." And that's going to enable us to understand free will. But if you look at the details, it's not really going to help because what happens is you have some very small quantum particles, and their behavior is apparently a bit random. They swerve. Their behavior is absurd in the sense that its unpredictable and we can't understand it based on anything that came before. It just does something out of the blue, according to a probabilistic framework. But is that going to help with freedom? I mean, should our freedom be just a matter of probabilities, just some random swerving in a chaotic system? That starts to seem like it's worse. I'd rather be a gear in a big deterministic physical machine than just some random swerving.
So we can't just ignore the problem. We have to find room in our contemporary world view for persons with all that that entails; not just bodies, but persons. And that means trying to solve the problem of freedom, finding room for choice and responsibility, and trying to understand individuality."
Channel: Film & Animation
Uploaded: August 29, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Author: prokofiev678
Length: 00:03:13
Rating: 4.78
Views: 157997
Tags: David Sosa Physics Free Will Philosophy Waking Life
Video Comments:
rosannalucyamelia (December 1, 2008 at 1:00 am)
We are always doing what we were always going to do. Choice is an illusion.
Hyperbulle (November 29, 2008 at 11:55 pm)
The brain is the enabler of free will, and thus your free will is limited by what your brain limits it to.
Free will is not (any longer) a question of philosophy, of quantum mechanics, of theology or of chemistry. It's a question of neurology.
There, problem solved.
Free will is not (any longer) a question of philosophy, of quantum mechanics, of theology or of chemistry. It's a question of neurology.
There, problem solved.
civilfailure111 (November 28, 2008 at 1:57 pm)
is it truly and fully illusion? for if it was than it would truly and fully be not illusion. nothing can be purely one thing because than it would be its exact opposite at the same time. For example, if free will were a complete illusion than we would all be subject to this so-called "illusion" but that would mean that there truly isnt an illusion due to the fact that everyone and everything is within it.
metalguitarplayer1 (November 28, 2008 at 3:49 pm)
You bring to light an intresting point and I admit my statement was rather generic and vague. However I am inclined to disagree with "nothing can be purely one thing" and also be "its exact opposite at the same time". The duality of the situation is not that black and white IMO. I admit a possible illusion of life could be all emcompassing but in terms of free will I don't think it is. I'm not a determinist by any means, I belive in freedom of thought but not the physical embodiment of ideas.
civilfailure111 (December 1, 2008 at 10:07 pm)
yes, nothing is that black and white because there is not many things in this world which are proven as purely one thing. Actually i would say nothing is actually pure besides energy. Think about it, atoms have no smallest particle yet. we are down to quarks and there are still smaller particles. there is nothing that is made of itself that we know of. If it did exist than it would not exist because it couldn't. To me it is most fundamental idea of dualism. everything has an opposite and is one.
CACBCCCU (November 26, 2008 at 2:51 pm)
I'm all for well-designed mental gateways. They're very cute.
CACBCCCU (November 26, 2008 at 2:48 pm)
An individual's "God" is a part of the universe (some call it a multiverse, but that's beside the point here). If others can share the exact same perception of "God" then the mass of that portion of the universe effectively increases. This is, I suppose here, in contrast to the ideal fixed nature of the abstract perceptions involved. It's trivia.
Others have essentially said that "God" is the design of a mental gateway between the conscious and subconscious in believers.
Others have essentially said that "God" is the design of a mental gateway between the conscious and subconscious in believers.
CACBCCCU (November 26, 2008 at 2:01 pm)
"Solve the problem of freedom"?
You're scaring the bejeezus out of me.
Start from this: Smart people have more freedom that stupid people.
You're scaring the bejeezus out of me.
Start from this: Smart people have more freedom that stupid people.
CACBCCCU (November 26, 2008 at 1:52 pm)
You rather be a cog than a chaotic swirly?
There is nothing chaotic, weightwise about eating too much every day. It's monotonic. The larger you get the more you'll start to mesh with the local universe. Think wedgie.
There is nothing chaotic, weightwise about eating too much every day. It's monotonic. The larger you get the more you'll start to mesh with the local universe. Think wedgie.
Conclusion: The order-taker hates English-speakers.