Of physics, psychology and philosophy.

Given the four equations of motion and other physics laws, one can calculate and predict with certain confidence, the movement and therefore the future position of any particle. Suppose now that there is a way to compute and observe all particles within your brain. A large system applies the basic laws of physics on every molecule in your brain, and by doing so, calculates and predicts the future - your every thought and action.

What free will is there to speak of then, when every action of yours that you percieve to be made freely is actually just a result that comes from a couple of physics formulae. Does this mean that you are simply living into a future that has been fixed?

This was a question I came across some time ago. I first heard of this when my physics teacher metioned the French scientist, Pierre Laplace, who put forth a suggestion that applying the laws of physics to every particle in existence would allow for a prediction of the future. My teacher then simply dismissed this suggestion by citing the freedom to make decisions, and that free-will would prevail, that there is no way one can use physics and override the human soul to predict the future.

Having read of this question again not long ago. I found out something else - that in quantum physics, there lies a region of semi-existence of sorts, where things are just a mere possibility. This would definitely throw Pierre's plans off, since at a small-enough level where the laws of quantum physics kick in, nothing is predictable, even movement.

However, my main concern now is no longer the ability to predict the future based on some strings of characters, but rather to explore the essence of free-will. Let us now assume that even if the existence of quantum physics does throw our calculations off, we are still able to predict things to a small fraction of a second into the future - at least it's still something. A projection into a further future would inevitably lead to larger margins for error since miscalculations can always be magnified.

If so, what then is the free-will or decision-making we speak of? If some stranger we have never met sittng in front of a computer screen can predict which ice-cream flavour we would choose, does that mean that our choice is no longer a decision based on free-will, but a mere phenomenon that is 'fated' to happen according to the laws of physics? Since the idea of free-will has always occured to us as a decision we make on-the-spot, independent of all other events in the world, doesn't the prediction then prove our perceptions to be flawed?

Maybe our concept of the future itself is flawed. Perhaps like in quantum physics, there really isn't anything that is fixed, just a matter of probability.

Maybe we are just confusing ourselves with rubbish that should be left to the geeks.