Just a paper I wrote very brielfy...
How free are we?
Question one.
Freewill is the ability to make a decision that is not determined by prior causes. Though can our decision be decided before the following action? If true, does this mean we have no freewill?
Premise one: If an action is predictable, it is not freely made.
Premise two: In principal, all human decisions are predictable in advance.
Conclusion: There is no freewill.
If a sufficiently knowledgeable scientist can predict our pending actions, does it mean we have no freewill? Freewill is defined by making a decision, which is not bound by earlier constraints. We cannot freely choose our decisions because, they are bound by earlier causes.
The earlier cause/s that may make a decision possible to predict is on a subconscious level. Our subconscious could be controlling our actions. At the same time we have no freewill and we are indirectly controlling our decisions. If a thought is chronologically placed, subconscious before conscious, we have no control over our actions. If our subconscious can create decisions, why can?t it refuse a decision, before turning it into a conscious decision? If this is true, why do we need to be conscious, if our subconscious creates, controls and decides our actions? We do not need to be aware of anything, if we consciously have no say in what goes on. Though simply, our consciousness too has a conscience. We can deny an action that our subconscious has presented to us, consciously. This is called this self-control.
Can another individual predict my actions, if the individual can, does this mean I have no freewill? The paradox called self-control, makes premise one false. Yes freewill is defined by a choice that is not bound by earlier constraints, but we can easily deny the earlier constraints, by using self-control. If a scientist has the technology and knowledge to predict my future actions, this does not mean we have no freewill. Scientists can predict simple, easy and limited actions like, having the option to pick up a small block, a large block or to simply touch a block. This is done by observing the subject?s brain activity with an f.M.R.I. machine (functional magnetic resonance imaging). The f.M.R.I. machine shows brain activity before the action presently occurs, which could signal subconscious thoughts. This is how scientists are able to predict these simple and limited actions. However this test is intended for research for controlling prosthetic limbs. They will not research further to what will happen if the subject begins to think about an action and then stop. Will the f.M.R.I. machine and scientist be able to predict the cease of the action? Even if the scientist and the f.M.R.I. machine are able to predict the cease of the action, it does not mean we have no freewill. As in, there is a difference between predicting actions and determining our actions are bound by prior causes.
Premise two states, in principal, all human decisions are predictable in advance. Today?s technology forces this premise to be false. Science can predict limited and simple actions, like which cube the subject will pick up. Science right now cannot predict real life situations, without prior information, like statistical data on previous relevant actions. For example, if someone was attempting to predict how James would get to university on Wednesday. After watching how James got to university three times consecutively, they discovered on all three Wednesdays, he biked to university. Assuming that on the fourth Wednesday, James would again bike to university. If James did bike to university on the fourth Wednesday, the assumption was correct. Alternatively if James did not bike to university, the assumption was incorrect. There are too many variables that could cause this prediction to be either correct or false. From simple environmental variables like, James? bike had a puncture or he was sick on Wednesday. Even if scientists observed James for several years, they would not be able to predict accurately, how James would get to university on the fourth Wednesday. This is where the Butterfly effect comes into play. If James catches the flu by being sneezed on, he may or may not bike to university, on the fourth Wednesday. The individual, who sneezed on James, could have alternatively not even sneeze on James, to not ever be in the same country as James. There could be billions of variables that could possibly lead to James being sneezed on. And in saying this, James could have caught the flu in other ways. He still may bike to university, if he has the flu, due to earlier causes.
Can another individual predict my future actions and if so, does it mean I have no freewill? The conclusion relates to the end of that question. There is no freewill. So far premise one and two have been proved false. Premise one is false because, there is a difference between predicting future actions and proving freewill doesn?t exist. Our subconscious mind may catalyse our thoughts, but our conscious state can deny the thought and not follow up with the action. Premise two is too false, due to being near infinite variables that are going to play a role in the desired action, in order to predict. And accounting for every variable and calculating it into the other practically infinite other variables, is impossible to do with today?s technology. Freewill is defined by, choice that is not bound by earlier causes. Earlier causes can influence our actions, possibly give us new information and change our previous intended action. Or earlier causes can even hinder our number of choices, making some actions impossible to do. As long the earlier causes do not affect our number of causes to less than two.
An obvious exception or objection is that, there will be no freewill if there is only one outcome. Even if we have multiple decisions, but all of them will conclude with the same outcome and then there is no freewill. If we can choose one of the outcomes, without earlier constraints, we have freewill. Though, we are not free from reality. If so, it doesn?t matter how many decisions we can choose from, if they all end the same. We all have a limited grasp on our surroundings. We can control ourselves, our actions and decisions. But this doesn?t mean we have freewill. The outcome of the decision proves whether we have freewill or not. If our intentions are fulfilled by the outcome of the event, then we have freewill. Clearly this is not as simple as it sounds. Some of our intentions are fulfilled by the outcome and others are not. Freewill is limited by the constraints of reality. We cannot jump sixty feet high, but if a human tries, they will fail, due to gravity. The individual intended to jump sixty feet high, failed, due to his environment. Our freewill is limited according to the rules of nature. So there are many factors that can hinder our freewill. Not just the laws of nature, other individuals and yourself, can limit the extent of freewill. Our choices are free, if the conclusion is what you intended happens. If the same individual intends to jump four feet high and succeeds, he has freewill in that case. But a wheelchair bound cripple attempts to jump four feet high and fails, due to his frail body; he has no free will in that case. Freewill is subjective. There is no freewill. This statement is false. There is freewill. This statement is incomplete. Some actions we can do and others we cannot. Which leads either to the conclusion being fulfilled, by the intentions, or not.
In conclusion, both premises are false, while the conclusion is inaccurate, therefore false. At the same time freewill is not always in the grasp of an individual. None of us have absolute freewill. Our actions are constrained by the laws of nature. A sufficiently knowledgeable scientist can predict some simple and limited actions, but not all actions. Actions can be accurately estimated; this is done by prior information of the individual?s actions, but this is not a prediction, it is estimation.
If the action is accurately predicted, the action is still chosen freely. But it doesn?t mean, actions that are accurately predicted are all chosen freely. While actions that are unpredictable are chosen freely and unfreely.
