Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnewsh!mbb
From: mbb@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (martin.b.brilliant)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: free will
Message-ID: <1556@cbnewsh.ATT.COM>
Date: 19 Jun 89 14:48:42 GMT
References: <896@orbit.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 55

From article <896@orbit.UUCP>, by philo@pnet51.cts.com (Scott Burke):
>   I'm sure that QM and chaos both play a part in the behavior of the human
> brain -- but I hardly hold out any hopes of it playing the role that many
> people want to make it fill, that of savior for the doctrine of free will.    

I think that's an interesting question to raise.

> ...  The actions of a "free agent"....
> .... appear[s] to display "random" behavior.....
> ..... it is the central idea
> of chaos theory that perfectly determinate systems (such as the weather)
> display what appears to be "random" behavior, by virtue of their complexity*. 

Another example is the pre-quantum theory of ideal gases.  Molecules
were assumed to be perfectly deterministic, but for practical, and
hence good theoretical purposes, they were unpredictable.  Chaos theory
does not predict new physical phenomena so much as provide a
mathematical framework for old ones.

> ..... the individual behavior of a
> chaotic system may be unpredictable, but many chaotic systems can be
> characterized by "chaotic attractors", regions and patterns of behavior which
> the system as a whole follows.  There is no reason to believe that the
> ultimately highly* complex system of the mind is any less chaotic in that it's
> behavior "appears random" but is not, exhibits stable patterns at higher
> levels (eg. "predictable people", morality itself, the internal consistency of
> consciousness and intelligence and choosing), and is at rock bottom COMPLETELY
> DETERMINED.....

I had trouble unraveling that five-line sentence.  I think it says: The
mind is chaotic, in the technical sense: it appears random, exhibits
stable attractors, and is embodied in a completely deterministic
physical system.  Basically, I agree.  Quantum mechanics may play a
role here, but the conclusion does not depend on quantum mechanics.

Yes, people usually follow their principles or their habits, but not
always.  Under "stress" even "predictable people" do things you
wouldn't expect them to do.  What is this "stress"?  Subjectively, it
feels like being in a region where the "attractor" is not obvious.
This is the region where "free will" has to be tested.  Otherwise you
might infer that people's actions are determined by their principles
and habits, which are determined by their heredity and environment,
etc.  And this is the region where chaos theory is applicable.

So I think chaos theory can describe the mechanism of free will.  What
it does not describe is the sensation of free will (which I alluded to
above), the "feeling" of being undecided.  That would seem to be in the
realm of "consciousness."

M. B. Brilliant					Marty
AT&T-BL HO 3D-520	(201) 949-1858
Holmdel, NJ 07733	att!hounx!marty1 or marty1@hounx.ATT.COM

Disclaimer: Opinions stated herein are mine unless and until my employer
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