(February 28, 2016 at 2:38 pm)Jehanne Wrote: I am a materialist and do not believe that humans, non-human animals, plants, etc., have souls, spirits or any other "non-material" substance. If the Conservation Laws of Nature (Energy, Momentum, Angular Momentum, etc.) are immutable and without exception, then is not human (or animal) free will an illusion? Granted that the brain is irreducibly complex, but given enough hypothetical (infinite?) computing power, is not the entire Universe deterministic? Hence, free will is an illusion?
Yes to illusory free will, no to deterministic. We don't know how QM events unfold and they seem pretty random. Whether that's an error in observation or something built-in I don't think we know. That being said, others here know more about physics than I do.
