Free Will

[netmouse]

In the comments on yellowmouser's journal here and here I engage the question of whether or not free will is an illusion (I think not). Updated to add: J argues against me here.

What are your thoughts on the question? Is it an interesting question or purely a polemic debate?

Comments

[omnifarious.livejournal.com]

I think the question can be thought of from several different perspectives.

From one perspective, we can look at the laws of physics and what they tell us. They tell us that we don't exactly have free will unless you count quantum randomness and inscrutability as free will. And many people go that route and attribute a number of interesting mystical properties to quantum mechanics.

But a perspective I like is one I call the simulation perspective. Can we simulate you in entirety and predict exactly what you will do? In theory, yes, in actuality, no. And it will likely never be practical to do so. And even if it were, somehow managing to get an exact map of all your perceptions to make the prediction fully accurate is likely impossible.

So, in essence you have free will.

Now there are many gross predictions we can make about behavior based on detailed knowledge of brain chemistry and organization. But even those will often be wrong in detail.

Does that make sense?