The Black Vault

Free will is safe. Even if the universe is completely deterministic, then we (and computers, and God knows who else) possess free will. At first, the deterministic nature of the laws of physics would seem to forbid free will: No choice is available. In fact, however, the computational nature of the universe actually guarantees free will.

Let me explain. Free will arises when we make decisions—decisions that we and we alone are responsible for. For example, every morning I decide whether to have coffee or tea. The decision is mine, and mine alone. Until I make it, I have no idea whether I will have coffee or tea. My decision process is a kind of computation: I weigh the relative merits of coffee or tea, thinking about my day ahead, and then make a decision.

But exactly because the decision process is a kind of computation, the outcome of this process is intrinsically unpredictable. Why? Because any process that involves logical reasoning is intrinsically unpredictable: The result of such a process—and my eventual decision for tea or coffee—can only be determined by going through the same reasoning process oneself. Until one has actually gone through the reasoning process of making the decision, the actual decision will be unpredictable. This verbal argument can easily be made mathematically precise by restating it in terms of mathematical logic, of the sort that computers practice.

One of the most famous results of computer science is the so-called "halting problem," which states that the result of any computation is itself impossible to compute without going through the same sequence of logical steps that the computer programmed to perform the computation undergoes. Ironically, it is exactly when we are most rational and deterministic that free will shows up.

Because any process that involves logical reasoning is intrinsically unpredictable:

at1with0 wrote:
In fact, many people's decisions are quite predictable.

khanster wrote:

at1with0 wrote:
In fact, many people's decisions are quite predictable.

Not with absolute 100% accuracy.

frrostedman wrote:

khanster wrote:

at1with0 wrote:
In fact, many people's decisions are quite predictable.

Not with absolute 100% accuracy.

I was 100% certain you would say that.

at1with0 wrote:

Because any process that involves logical reasoning is intrinsically unpredictable:

This is one flaw with his argument. If my computer program is this:
10 PRINT "1"
20 GOTO 10

then the output of that program is not only predictable but easily predictable.

frrostedman wrote:

at1with0 wrote:

Because any process that involves logical reasoning is intrinsically unpredictable:

This is one flaw with his argument. If my computer program is this:
10 PRINT "1"
20 GOTO 10

then the output of that program is not only predictable but easily predictable.

Really?

Ok, tell me how many pages will print before the ink runs out.
Tell me how many pages will print before the printer breaks down.

And you could have at LEAST put a semicolon at the end of line 10 to save some trees! Typical Earth-hater! You must be one of those Christians who claims the Earth is merely God's "foot stool" with zero regard for precious resources and proper stewardship!

Jerk!

at1with0 wrote:

frrostedman wrote:And you could have at LEAST put a semicolon at the end of line 10 to save some trees! Typical Earth-hater! You must be one of those Christians who claims the Earth is merely God's "foot stool" with zero regard for precious resources and proper stewardship!

Jerk!

NERD111111111111111111111111111