When I was a kid, I hoped for an epic destiny made for the movies. I remember movies were kids would range from 12-18 gaining some hidden power at a certain age. I kept hoping that I would eventually gain some hero’s power. I felt it was in my fate.
Yet here I am, 34, with no powers. Instead I think about why the world is the way it is and try to better understand it and the purpose of it all. So as a kid, I hoped and prayed for destiny, but I believe in the idea of free will. In discussion with some of my friends, an idea was brought up that God allowed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden to exist to allow humans free will to choose.
But what is free will? It is being able to act without constraint of necessity or fate. Sounds similar to my Everything is Permitted maxim. Also, if you think about it, many deities, including God, are to be our judges when our time ends. Judgement for actions not our own doesn’t make a lot of sense.
So free will must exist, right? But what about the idea that God knows has a plan? We are told this usually upon some loss to remind us to still praise God and not despair as it’s in His plan. If this is true, then are we really given free will, or simply the illusion of free will? If God knows our fate, aren’t we simply following it?
To me, free will necessitates knowledge of the future or the plan or fate to be able to choose a different path. But if we can never know the future, as knowing it would surely change it, then does the lack of foreknowledge constrain our choices? Imagine coming across a path in the woods. You can only go left or right. Which do you choose? What if you already chose, but can’t know it? Does this limit your choice?
Another thought: Groundhogs Day. In this movie, the main character relives the same day. But he retains the knowledge of how the days went based on his prior cycles. As no one else is aware of the day resetting, he eventually understands what will happen throughout the day whether he interferes or not. For example, every morning, he meets someone at a diner for breakfast and the same events happen every time. If our day reset without us retaining the knowledge of the prior loop, wouldn’t we do the same thing? Does that mean the main character is the only one with free will?
Now lets take a moment and look at the past. All the events that have occurred in your life have brought you to this moment. To this blog. You are who you are because of the events that you have experienced. If you change any one thing in your past, it could cause major changes in your timeline. Imagine going back to the past and making out with your mom and you start to disappear as you are nearly never born.
Now if your past defines you, doesn’t that mean your choice is already decided. Imagine again the path in the woods splitting in two. If everything in your past led you to the path and you choose to go a direction, why would that you ever choose a different path? That moment of you making a decision can only ever know the information you have at that moment. So with no other knowledge to alter your decision, doesn’t that mean you will always choose the same direction. How can you have free will then if your past has lead you to the you now and the you now will eventually be the past you?
I get a strong feeling this may be the answer. It feels like an excellent argument, so if anyone has any ideas on how I could be wrong, please let me know in the comments. But I did come across an idea that made me re-examine this thought.
I saw a video on Youtube from Veritasium about how Parallel Worlds Probably Exist. In it, he discusses a slightly different idea about Schrodinger’s cat where us human observers aren’t simply observers. Our interaction with the box quantum entangles us with the cat and experiment and as such, we also are in superposition finding the cat both alive and dead at the same time. In this idea, any time we make a decision, such as which path to take in the woods, one version of us chooses one direction while the other version goes the other direction allowing for a quasi-free will.
For my understanding/interpretation/dumbed-down version on some of the concepts discussed above:
-Quantum Entanglement: This is a physical phenomenon that occurs when two or more particles or groups of particles come into contact and are linked. Experiments show that if we measure one particle’s spin, we can know the spin of an entangled particle. Essentially, because they touched, they affect each other, even at vary large distances.
-Superposition: Thanks to an experiment called the Double Slit experiment (check it out if you don’t know it), we know that particles seem to exist in all states at all times until the particles wave function collapses. Basically, things in superposition mean that any and all possible and probable outcomes exist simultaneously. Once something is measured or interacts, then it is forced to one existence.
-Schrodinger’s Cat: This is a thought experiment where a box with a radioactive atom, a radiation detector that triggers the release of a deadly gas with a cat. Also, the cat cannot interfere with the detector, atom, or gas. Not a fan of the cat being used, but it is not my thought experiment. Anyway, the box becomes closed and there is no indication of what is or isn’t happening inside until the lid is lifted. The atom is in superposition of being decayed and not decayed and is entangled with the detector, which is in turn entangled with the gas, which is in turn entangled with the cat, placing all these items in superposition. Once we open the box, then the wave function collapses and the items in the box are forced into a single existence as they are being measured by our eyes.
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