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Ask HN: If the laws of nature apply to human brains, how can there be free will?
If consciousness arises from the electricity flows in our neurons and if these electricity flows obey the laws of physics, isn't free will impossible?
- tlb 8y agoThis question is too nebulous for a good Ask HN. If you're interested in the millions of pages of literature on this question, you might start at https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/freewill/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/freewill/. But TL;DR: there's no answer.
- _Schizotypy 8y agoFree will is an illusion, our brains make decisions on how to deal with incoming information based on past experiences that have strengthened certain connections. Some circuits are stimulated throughout the day more than others based on similarity of information to what we have received in the past, from this arises thought processes and "decision making"
- herodotus 8y agoThe laws of Physics do not require determinism - in fact, probability is at the heart of quantum physics.