"We must believe in free will, we have no choice." Isaac Bashevis Singer

I just returned from a family gathering and one of the topics that was discussed by a subset of us (including me) was, "Does 'free will' exist?" It was only a subset because of two reasons. First the gathering was too large (16) for all to participate but, more relevant was the wise attitude of some that such discussions are mental diarrhea. The discussion was spurred, perhaps (I forget), by an article in the latest Scientific American (June, 2014, p. 76).

"Free will" should be understood as the ability to choose between equally possible alternatives. "Sugar or not in my coffee?" "Free will" is not "Shall I become a professional basketball player or not." To become a basketball player requires skills that do not have an equal probability of occurring as not. Similarly the question as to go to college or not relies on factors (role models, family encouragement, etc.) that does not, in general, present an level playing ground for making the decision. Hence a child of a college professor is much more likely to go to college than a child from the ghetto. This  discrepancy is not because of the poor use of "free will."

At the family gathering, immensely aided by a few glasses of wine by each participant, it was a wide ranging and spirited coverage of the issue. I wish I could remember all of the salient points made by others. I made the following chardonnay lubricated observations: I can conceive of no scientific method of determining whether "free will" exists or not and, secondly, the belief as to whether or not we have "free will" is far more important than whether we do or not.

Before the scientific advances of the twentieth century, in the realm of Newtonian mechancs, it was very easy to believe in a deterministic world. Newton formalized cause and effect. Everything was the effect of what had happened before and given complete knowledge of the current configuration, the future was known. The discovery of the laws of electricity and magnetism together with chemical and biological revelations could easily lead to the belief that the brain and thought processes belong to the same deterministic framework as the motions of celestial bodies. It was all predetermined. You want sugar in your coffee? The answer was cast in stone at the time of creation.

Then in the twentieth century, indeterminism rose its ugly head in the form of quantum mechanics. There was uncertainity involved in the most formal and rigorously explored physical systems. Ah ha, this gave an escape from Newton and allowed "free will." The connection may not be clear - "How does quantum mechanical uncertainty play out in the brain?" - but the door was open.

Because of "free will," I choose to end this now. Or maybe not...

©2014 Lester C. Welch