Reviving Free Will

If I understand Quantum Mechanics correctly (which, I immediately admit, is highly unlikely) then there is hope for Free Will yet. A few weeks ago I argued that both science and religion lead irrevocably to no Free Will. Now, it turns out, that at least in the case of science this might not be the case.

According to classical physics, ever particle had a place and a velocity, with Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle just saying that it was impossible for us to know this place and velocity simultaneously, due to the nature of observation (with everything that is observed being affected by the act of observation). This is what Einstein believed until the day he died.

But, apparently, this is wrong. According to a great deal of research that has been done into the smallest possible particles we can still observe, it is not necessarily the case that any particle absolutely occupies one point in space. Instead, it seems, that it can simultaneously exist in multiple spaces at the same time.

There is no absolute, there is only probability.

What is more, as a quick aside, these particles can somehow ‘borrow’ and ‘return’ energy to the universe at large, thereby making the amount of energy they have at any one particular time both immeasurable and highly erratic. Interestingly enough, this means that a particle can actually leap through other particles (something that is called tunnelling). What is more, many particles can apparently do this simultaneously (though it is highly unlikely) allowing you to theoretically walk through walls. I wouldn’t suggest trying it though, as the likelihood of success if you tried it once every second since the beginning of the big bang it would still be negligible.

Now, let’s go back to the no absolute, only probability statement. What this means is that the future is, in no way, fixed. Each future simply has a probability of existing. In fact, objects that we see around us, actually are ‘blurred’ across space/time, with the object we see just being the remaining probability after all other probabilities have cancelled each other out.

This gives a great boost to the existence of Free Will, as it may mean that what we possess is the ability to choose the probabilities that we prefer. If we can constantly adjust the future, by way of choice, then that would constitute Free Will in every sense of the phrase.

The moment we can accept there are multiple futures that can (and possibly do) exist, we’ve escaped from the trap of determinism. Free Will doesn’t demand that the future isn’t written, it just demands that there are alternative endings.