- #1
Charlie G
- 116
- 0
Well, I was in the car with my mom going to pizza hut and I was thinking about the principle that if you knew the exact positions and velocities of every particle in the universe, you could know everything in the universes past and future. It doesn't take too much thinking to realize that is true (bought the same amount of time it takes to get from my house to pizza hut). But, on the way back I began thining along those lines, but instead of the universe as a whole, simply on macroscopic standards.
Now then, for my question, if you could know the exact position and velocities of every single particle in our brains, could you predict the owners thoughts, and, ultimately there actions. I don't see any reason why our brains should work any differently than everything else, in which by knowing the information of each and every particle you gain access to its past and future. If the brain does behave like that then it would mean that every single person's thoughts and actions, from Hitler's slaughter of the Jews, to Mother Teresa's benign actions, all depended on the initial state of every particle in the universe. My thoughts on my ride and ultimately my posting of this question, all depended on the initial state of the universe.
Something like that is very hard to swallow for me, which is why I am asking you guys. It seems highly unlikely, but for it to be otherwise, the brain must work entirely different than any other physical system I've ever heard of. By now, the title should be obvious. Free-will can't be true if the brain works the same as every other physical system.
I hate to think that Newton and Einsteins amazing thoughts only came to be because of the initial state of the universe rather than there own genuine intelligence.
Now then, for my question, if you could know the exact position and velocities of every single particle in our brains, could you predict the owners thoughts, and, ultimately there actions. I don't see any reason why our brains should work any differently than everything else, in which by knowing the information of each and every particle you gain access to its past and future. If the brain does behave like that then it would mean that every single person's thoughts and actions, from Hitler's slaughter of the Jews, to Mother Teresa's benign actions, all depended on the initial state of every particle in the universe. My thoughts on my ride and ultimately my posting of this question, all depended on the initial state of the universe.
Something like that is very hard to swallow for me, which is why I am asking you guys. It seems highly unlikely, but for it to be otherwise, the brain must work entirely different than any other physical system I've ever heard of. By now, the title should be obvious. Free-will can't be true if the brain works the same as every other physical system.
I hate to think that Newton and Einsteins amazing thoughts only came to be because of the initial state of the universe rather than there own genuine intelligence.