What Are the Implications of the Free Will Theorem?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Demystifier
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Free will Theorem
Demystifier
Science Advisor
Insights Author
Messages
14,567
Reaction score
7,160
What do you think about
http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0604079 ?

Let me explain how I understood it, but it is possible that I misunderstood something.
In simple terms, the theorem says the following:
If humans have free will, then the rest of nature is not deterministic.

But if you treat humans on an equal footing with the rest of nature, then this theorem can be further simplified as:
If there is free will, then something is not deterministic.

Sounds almost like a tautology, doesn't it?

But of course, every theorem can be viewed as a tautology by those who understand it very well.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Thanks RVBuckeye!
 
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. Towards the end of the first lecture for the Qiskit Global Summer School 2025, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Olivia Lanes (Global Lead, Content and Education IBM) stated... Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/quantum-entanglement-is-a-kinematic-fact-not-a-dynamical-effect/ by @RUTA
If we release an electron around a positively charged sphere, the initial state of electron is a linear combination of Hydrogen-like states. According to quantum mechanics, evolution of time would not change this initial state because the potential is time independent. However, classically we expect the electron to collide with the sphere. So, it seems that the quantum and classics predict different behaviours!
Back
Top