What we need for understanding rational human
behaviour - and indeed, animal behaviour - is something intermediate in
character between perfect chance and perfect determinism - something intermediate
between perfect clouds and perfects clocks.
(Karl Popper, 1975)
The problem of Free Will vs. Determinism has puzzled philosophers for thousands
of years. It is a profound problem for without Free Will there can be no
morality,
no right and wrong, no good and evil. All our behaviours would be pre-determined
and we would have no creativity or choice. Common sense (and most importantly,
Darwinian
Evolution) suggests that we do in fact have Free Will, that we can decide
and determine our futures within the limits of physical reality. However,
the only absolute way to solve this problem of Philosophy
is to know what exists and how it is interconnected, i.e. True Knowledge
of Reality.
The Metaphysics of Space and the Wave Structure of Matter (WSM) is a simple
scientific solution which explains how we can have limited free will
in a necessarily connected universe.
This is very important as it explains why we can live as moral creatures creating better futures for ourselves and our society. By 'limited free will' we mean limited by the necessary connection of matter. We do not have the freedom to defy gravity and make ourselves float upwards, but within the constraints of necessary connection there are still many possible futures. We can choose to read this, or we can decide to stop reading it. Both are possible futures that obey the laws of physics and the necessary connections between things.
It is very important to appreciate the difference between a Necessarily
Connected Universe, which ours is, (as explained by the central Principle
of the Wave Structure of Matter) and a Deterministic Universe which requires
knowledge of the 'initial conditions' from which things, being necessarily
connected, can then be determined.
As this WSM Cosmology explains, we exist in a finite and 'Necessarily Connected'
Universe (due to the Properties of Space as a continuously connected wave
medium), whereas Space itself must be Infinite (One thing existing is necessarily
Infinite and Eternal). Thus our finite spherical universe continually has
waves flowing into it that have come from Infinity, and can never be pre-determined
(an infinite system cannot be predetermined). Thus Spinoza is correct when
he writes;
A body in motion or at rest must be determined for motion or rest by some other body, which, likewise, was determined for motion or rest by some other body, and this by a third and so on to infinity. (Spinoza, 1673)
This also explains why even the Motion of planets is not determinable if we consider long periods of time, as Lerner explains;
The Cartesian idea of a set of universal laws which control
natural occurrences exercised a powerful appeal in the succeeding centuries.
Laplace, even as he developed his theory of a naturally evolving cosmos,
endorsed the idea that, given the laws of gravitation, Newtonian mechanics,
and the 'initial conditions' of the universe, every subsequent event not
only can be accurately predicted, but is predetermined. The whole history
of the universe, and of earth, is the inevitable operation of a set of eternal
laws. In modern terms, Laplace believed that mathematical physics constitutes
a Theory of Everything.
With absolute, infinite knowledge of the comet's velocity and infinite precision
in calculation, its orbit is simply unpredictable. Yet this is not an effect
of 'chance'. At all points the orbit was under precise control of the laws
of gravitation as programmed into the simulation. The unpredictability came
from the instability of the three-body interaction.
This doesn't mean we can't make useful predictions about the future. We
can if the amount of time we try to predict is short enough. For unstable
systems this time limit is the amount of time that passes between collisions
of the particles that make up the system. For the comet this is a single
orbit, but for a gas a tiny fraction of a second. We can, however, make
useful statistical predictions; on average the comet will probably last
about 150 orbits. And of course many systems are sufficiently close to stable
that we can ignore their instability because the rate at which their instabilities
grow is far longer than we need to worry about. For example, the orbits
of the planets in our actual solar system appear to be unpredictable in
excess of twenty million years from now. For all intents and purposes, in
plotting a space mission the system is absolutely stable, predictable and
reversible. (Lerner, 1991)
The problem of whether Humans have free will or whether all our actions
are pre-determined and our apparent free will is simply an illusion is profoundly
important to Humanity, for the answer to this question will tell us whether
we can determine our own future, and whether the concept of Morality actually
exists (for if we had no free will, then there could be no such thing as
morality!).
The solution is quite simple though and can be easily understood with the
aid of the following example;
Let us take a normal pack of playing cards (52 cards - 13 Hearts, Diamonds,
Spades, and Clubs) and I shall place the Ace of Hearts face down on the
top of the pack.
Thus I am both necessarily connected to the Ace of Hearts (as I am to all
matter in the universe) and I have pre-determined knowledge of the exact
card, thus I can be certain that if I turn the card over it will be the
Ace of Hearts. So we see that while I have complete knowledge of the system
then there is no chance involved - the system is both necessarily connected
and pre-determined.
Now let us further imagine that I place this pack of cards in front of someone
else who has no knowledge of the fact that the Ace of Hearts is the top
card. So while they are still necessarily connected to the top card (Ace
of Hearts) they do not have pre-determined knowledge of this card, thus
if I ask them to tell me which card is on top of the pack they only have
a one in fifty two chance of guessing correctly. Thus we see how chance
exists when we do not have pre-determined knowledge (even though we are
still necessarily connected).
Further, in a necessarily connected but non determined universe, there
are many possible futures (within the constraints of the properties of Space
and the waves structure of matter - we can't flap our arms and fly!).
If we now apply this knowledge to the matter of brain and body (which is
the cause of our human mind) we realise that while we are necessarily connected
to the other matter in the universe, we can never have pre-determined knowledge
of the motions of this other matter (as explained above due to the system
being infinite) thus explaining how chance (due to lack of pre-determined
knowledge) exists in the universe. Hence evolution of our brain and mind
can use this chance to allow us to creatively think of new and novel ideas
and relationships that we can then remember, and then we can use chance
again to select from these various chance relationships to determine actions.
Now while this is a very simplified explanation of how our mind works, and
there may be millions of ‘layers’ to these chance selections,
each with various degrees of probabilities for selecting different outcomes,
nonetheless the principles are true and do explain how lack of pre-determined
knowledge in a necessarily connected Universe within an Infinite Space allows
chance and limited ‘free will’.
A simple example of this process can be found when considering a game commonly found in fairgrounds, where there is a clown's head with open mouth that is rotating backwards and forwards, and you must drop a ball and try and get it to land in a certain slot. Depending on the time that you drop the ball ultimately determines where it will land. But all options are possible, and if we use this chance (due to lack of knowledge, as explained above) to determine when the ball is dropped, then we realise that we are using chance to decide on the future of the universe.
Thus Spinoza is both right and wrong when he writes;
There is no mind absolute or free will, but the mind is determined for willing this or that by a cause which is determined in its turn by another cause, and this one again by another, and so on to infinity. (Spinoza, 1673)
His error was to not understand how lack of pre-determined knowledge in an infinite though necessarily connected system causes chance and limited free will.
Karl Popper also intuitively understood that there had to be some 'balance' between complete determinism (clocks) and complete disorder and chance (clouds) when he wrote;
What we need for understanding rational human behaviour - and indeed, animal behaviour - is something intermediate in character between perfect chance and perfect determinism - something intermediate between perfect clouds and perfects clocks. (Popper, 1975)
He was absolutely right, for a 'Necessarily Connected', but infinite and ‘Non-Determined’ space allows us to have limited free will (based upon this lack of pre-determined knowledge which gives rise to chance).
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