I was thinking recently about the laws of physics and, if I am correct, they are able to predict the path of one atom throughout time and space and they are able to predict the motion of anything, anywhere at any time given a sufficient amount of information. Does this mean that everything that has happened will always happen in any "alternate universe"? For example, an atom on the tip of my finger will always end up there according to the laws of physics. If this is true, then does it apply to the chemicals that control our emotions. Are the atoms that consist of a persons adrenaline always going to make it kick in when he is cornered and make him fight by triguring other hormones that are there due to the laws of Physics aswell? Do the laws of physics permit human free will? I feel that I didn't explain this very well, I hope that the general idea is expressed clearly enough by the final question.
Google Laplace's Demon, and if you want to see something more related to your question, search for something like 'laplace's demon and free will', I'm sure there will be a lot of texts about this (just make sure to use your common sense filter on them...) Basically, the laws of physics we use to describe the macro world cannot be used in the quantum level. In quantum level, things happens at random, so all we can do is to predict the probability of a certain event happening. So even if you imagine the brain working only by interactions of particles and energy, it's impossible to determine what is the outcome of a given event inside it. Some people use this randomness to support the existance of free will, but the way I see it, being random is not allowing one to choose a path. Randomness is ramdomness, so unless we do have something we can't measure (soul?) altering the outcome of the events happening on our brain, it's still not what I would consider to be free will This issue was already discussed on the forums, maybe you find some useful information on those topics.
Nope, there is no free will since all your actions are dictated to you partly by your biology and partly by your experience. There is no break in universal causality and therefore, there can be no free will. Moral culpability is false. People can't be evil & probability is just a useful fiction. and while I think that saying that things on the quantum level are random is just lazy science and a lot of scientists and philosophers disagree with the hypothesis, but it's largely irrelevant because you just change from being a cog in the system to a dice. Randomness isn't enough to establish free will since randomness by it's nature out of your control.
As gamers we should all know that free will is a certainty, or at least that determinism is a fantasy, because we all reload saves to get a better result out of the RNG.
Ahh... Shogun: TW, how you never knew how much I cheated you and enjoyed your fast load times. Nice control of language btw.
I think the Shaw has his own personal philosophy which connects to this issue. You should ask him, or read it in the Our Religious Positions thread.
