Michio Kaku: Why Physics Ends the Free Will Debate

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[DyslexicTurtle]

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle doesn't dismiss determination, it only states  that the position of an electron isn't able to be precisely located...not that its location isn't predetermined by physical forces.

[ryanbremer]

This is one thing I don't quite agree with Kaku on. I feel like the uncertainty is just a lack of our understanding of the variables involved, or perhaps a lack of the ability to make such measurements technologically. I feel if enough variables were understood, the nature of any matter is absolutely predictable. An incomplete mathematical model could very well be the reason in that uncertainty.

[djayjp]

The uncertainty principle does not negate the possibility of superdeterminism-- i.e., it may be epistemological or ontological. Good job, Kaku, portraying your bias as fact. Determinism simply means the past determines the future and has nothing to do with human or technological ability to do so. Additionally, *randomness does not provide free will*!

[stevekennedy]

Doesn't happen often but while viewing this video I felt smarter than Michio.

[davidhoggan]

This is such a silly argument. Just because we currently have no real understanding of quantum physics and the uncertainty of matter at this scale doesn't
necessarily mean there isn't order in place.

[StreamTech]

Gonna have to call bullshit on this... The uncertainty at the quantum level doesn't mean free will in any way.

[JohnDoe-nizm]

The fact that we can't measure it accurately doesn't prove that position and momentum of sub-atomic particles are random. At least not to me, I don't see the logic in it.

Maybe on some deeper level, there is a consistent cause and effect that we merely can't measure accurately with present technology?

[SterusXN]

So our actions are caused by quantistic indeterminacy? I don't see how this is free will. The fact that an action is not predictable doesn't imply it is free. I think that stronger arguments are needed

[mdashfaqulislam]

"...No one can determine your future events given your past history. " Then how can I myself determine my own future events !! How do I have control over that or even on my own state of mind in the future?

[marvinedwards]

Free will is not an illusion. It is simply the experience we have when faced with a new decision. We observe this mental process in ourselves. We observe it when others discuss with us a decision they are trying to make. The "free" part only means that it is us making the decision of our own choice, rather than being coerced to make that choice by someone else.

Cause and effect is not an illusion. Any event can, in theory, be traced back to it's relevant causes. This implies determinism, which says that the cause and effect chain is eternal and infinite. The current state of everything is inevitably determined by the prior state of everything.

Since both concepts have use and meaning, both are real. Neither is an illusion. Each helps us deal with some aspect of the real world. Since both are true, the illusion must be in the idea that they conflict. They don't. Period.

And they cooperate quite nicely. Although every choice we make is determined by its relevant causes, the choice in turn becomes the cause of new effects that could not occur without the process of decision making and free choice.

It is surprising that so many "intelligent" people have not yet solved this koan.

As to the electrons, I will presume the tree in the forest falls despite the lack of witnesses.

[panthamor]

Here is what Sam Harris has to say about this in his book 'Free will':

Consequently, some scientists and philosophers hope that chance or quantum uncertainty can make room for free will. For instance, the biologist Martin Heisenberg has observed that certain processes in the brain, such as the opening and closing of ion channels and the release of synaptic vesicles, occur at random, and cannot therefore be determined by environmental stimuli. Thus, much of our behavior can be considered truly “self-generated”—and therein, he imagines, lies a basis for human freedom. But how do events of this kind justify the feeling of free will? “Self-generated” in this sense means only that certain events originate in the brain. If my decision to have a second cup of coffee this morning was due to a random release of neurotransmitters, how could the indeterminacy of the initiating event count as the free exercise of my will? Chance occurrences are by definition ones for which I can claim no responsibility. And if certain of my behaviors are truly the result of chance, they should be surprising even to me. How would neurological ambushes of this kind make me free?

Harris, Sam (2012-03-06). Free Will (Kindle Locations 332-334). Simon & Schuster, Inc.. Kindle Edition. 

[huthtruth]

I was so appalled by this short video... Then I came down here to the comments and found all these wonderful people calling out the nonsense. Really made me feel better. Thank you guys.

[EM-wdls]

One thing wrong with this is that determinism can still exist within the universe alongside the Uncertainty Principle. The Many-Worlds Interpretation is probably a good example of this. In MWI, every outcome of a quantum event happens simultaneously, because every time such an event happens the universe "splits" into two universes.

There is also another big issue: How much do quantum events influence our decisions? If they do not influence our decisions, or they influence our decisions but only to a certain extent, I would say MWI is not completely deterministic in a macroscopic sense.

We can use physics to settle the debate over free to an extent. We still don't know enough about them to say absolutely no, or absolutely yes. I say the debate far from over.

[CharlesVeitch]

I made my decisions about yesterday a week from now when my expired AOL card from the 1990s becomes a pass for the 2014 Brazil World Cup. Thanks Michio Kaku for clearing that up.

[elijahmasquelier]

Using quantum mechanics to disprove determinism is wrong. We simply have not the technology or knowledge to determine where that electron is going to be. There are certainly laws that govern this, we simply do not know them.

[frentz]

he seems to completely conflate free will with determinism, as if "free will" simply means determinism is wrong, and has absolutely nothing to do with living creatures and choice.

[Rayvvvone]

Kaku shows that even brilliant physicists can be stupid.

[TetsuoIidabashi]

It's just epic faceplam. Best part is his conceited certainty. Saw this video years ago, couldn't take him serious since then. Greetings from Germany =)

[MorbidObscurity]

How, in any conceivable way, does the uncertainty principle ensure we have free will? 

[analbeadsinmybum]

I don't see how adding an element of random chance into a deterministic universe gives us free will. We surely have no more control over the random events than we do over the determined events!?