Do we have free will?

Question

So I was thinking.
If we put a person inside a room with no possibility of any external influence entering it
and we could get the speed, direction and other information of every particle in the room,
then starting from the fact that our brain is just atoms interacting with each other by well known rules it should be possible to predict everything the person in the room would do.

Even more, if we would be able to make an exact copy of the first room (with exact particle positions and speeds) then the persons in the two rooms should behave exactly the same
and we would see the exact scene no matter which room we looked into.

Now instead of the room let us suppose we could leave our universe and do the same.
We would be able to use a computer to simulate the movement and interaction of particles and therefore predict what would happen.

I don't know if there are any completely unpredictable particles in our universe but then again if there were it would not imply the possibility of free will, but the fact that some of our actions are completely random.

We would of course never be able to do this from inside our own universe (or from inside the room) since the act of calculating that data would mean we have already changed it since the data was collected, therefore we are not calculating with accurate data. And the data would change as we calculate. We would therefore not be able to predict our own future (at least not without a margin of error that would get bigger the more into the future we tried to predict).

But even if we can't actually do it, I believe that given a state in the universe all of it's future states are predetermined by the current movement and position of it's particles.

I am not trying to say that we can not make our own decisions based on what we think is best.
But what we think is best has been predetermined by input our brain received in the past.

The only hole I see for free will to fit in, is for us to actually have a soul, that is at least partially in another plane of existence (dimension) where different rules of physics apply.
But (religious views aside) now knowing anything about the workings of such soul or the rules of physic that apply to it I believe it is pointless to speculate on the matter.

What do you think?

Yellow Alarm Clock · Accepted Answer

The Marquis de Laplace beat you to it, but you're quite correct.  Thoughts consist of physical events taking place inside our brains.  We can even detect them with electroencephalography.  Clearly they have physical causes, just like any other physical events.

Anonymous · Answer

Look at it from the other end of the telescope: if our decisions were based only on the biochemical processes in our brain, our decisions - and our humanity, for that matter - are completely determined and dehumanized. Then you have to explain away the common experiences of moral obligation, regret, conscience, morality in general, etc., etc., which are incompatible with materialistic determinism.

Are you aware that you make free choices? Take the awareness of your freedom as the starting point, THEN work to understand the processes of human thought and behavior scientifically. There is no place for freedom in science, which deals with necessary causes; that doesn't mean that freedom doesn't exist, but that freedom is not the direct object of study of science.

Anonymous · Answer

Let's put it this way.  I have a set of limited choices given the current environment as a human being.  Yes, I have free will but within a given framework including my past, present and even possible future experiences as a human.  It is what falls into the realm of possibility for me that I can choose from.  In that sense I have free will.

BlackEyedGhost · Answer

Define free will. You can choose between things. Fact. Is that free will? It doesn't matter if things are predestined or not if you define free will that way. However, if you add in the idea that you could have chosen something else than you did, then it does. If you could have chosen either one, then there must be something that is random in the universe that's not based in time. So if that's true and you could have chosen either, is that free will? If that's not free will, how else would you define it?

Anonymous · Answer

We do have free will. You are looking at it from a purely scientific viewpoint and even top scientists agree they do not have all the answers. You need to go way below the atomic level, beyond quarks, protons and neutrons and into the realm of spirit, which is where we truly come from. I am not being religious here, either. The best place to learn more is from any of the books by Greg Braden. Way beyond me to explain!

teketoria · Answer

I do not know what group you mean, individually I have free will myself, and most other people also has
Of course everybody interacts or responds to a direct environment, a person just - for instance- can not
get trough on a wall just by will, etc..

Final Bliss · Answer

Ofcourse we have free will. Without free will you won't be able to know who you are. The true trust and faith is within free will. But after choosing a way, it's nessacary to take responsibility of the conclusions and if you do so you will find the true freedom.

kroeck · Answer

If i will get of project to make a concern loose to could magogi ki mujhay bhaut sara foodstuff miley jo ki could un garib human beings's could baat saku jinay ki foodstuff nahi mil tha or bina foodstuff kay hi mar ja thay hai.

Anonymous · Answer

Nothing is totally free,there is always a price.

uniontera6 · Answer

People can make an answer but there is no a reason. (This is your so-called free will.)
God can make a reason but there is no an answer. (This is your so-called destiny & chance.)

- UNIONTERA

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Do we have free will?

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