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From: olaf@cwi.nl (Olaf Weber)
Subject: Re: The Search For Truth
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Date: Fri, 9 Jun 1995 08:17:48 GMT
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In article <Pine.LNX.3.91.950607085100.959B-100000@linux1.ph.utexas.edu>,
Stephen Froehlich <froehlik@physics.utexas.edu> writes:

> 	Actually this idea has been a pet theory (read speculation) of
> mine for some time now.  If certain synapses can be set off by
> quantum fluctuations, that throws a deterministic system out of the
> window.  As we have no clue what causes Heisenberg Uncertainty, we
> can speculate all day long on if there is any true order to these
> fluctuations.

Note that the point of the uncertainty principle is that quantum
fluctuations are essentially uncaused.  That is what makes the system
non-deterministic.  By postulating the "soul" as a cause for the
fluctuations, you are removing the non-determinism in that part of the
system.

If there were a systematic order to these fluctuations we'd be capable
of predicting them with more accuracy than the uncertainty principle
allows.  In other words, any manipulation of these fluctuations is --
in principle -- detectable.

Thus these "quantum interface" theories are testable.

However, "certain synapses ... set off by quantum fluctuations" sounds
too much like a replacement pineal gland for my comfort.

> 	The fact of the matter is that there is a possible way to
> introduce free will into the electro-chemical system we know as the
> brain, but there is no data on this interaction that I know of, so
> we can't really draw any decisive conclusions as of yet.

Even if you can "introduce free will" in the brain in this manner,
there remains the question of how "free will" is produced by the
"soul".  And once you begin to look into that, you encounter the same
problems as when you try to figure out how the brain could produce
"free will".

Rather than looking for ways to "introduce free will" into the brain,
you should consider taking a principled look at exactly what you think
"free will" is, what it can and cannot do.  You might find that even
determinism need not be incompatible with it.

A book about this matter that is often recommended is "Elbow Room, the
varieties of free will worth wanting" by Daniel C. Dennett.

-- Olaf Weber
