David Eagleman - How Free Will Probes Mind and Consciousness

Can free will reveal the nature of mental states? Free will seems so obvious, yet defies physical explanation. That's the reason why free will can be a tool to explore the mind. Free will probes consciousness by examining what it means to pick, choose, select, decide in the closed physical system of the world. But is 'free will' just a trick of the brain?



David Eagleman is a neuroscientist and writer at Stanford University.


Closer to Truth presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[MrXrisd]

Love it when Robert pushes back during interviews

[gloriawoods]

I agree with what Dr Eagleman said. Different levels of abstraction create not complete free will, but certain extent of free will. There always exists a metacommunication process (or several) in complex systems which can become self-reflexive, which is prototypical free will

[javiergonzales]

The Issue is: Withing the realm of HARD CONSCIOUSNESS (And not the Neural Networks),
There is Free Will that NOT necessarily is a response to Previous stimulae, eg, I can decide right now or not (I, being conscious) to Lift my hand or not !

[patientson]

Mr David is right. Everything in life require two unique bits to increase. Decision and iteration are required.

[ZafOsophy]

Imagine having a birds eye view of a crash landed plane in the desert. You, the observer, can be reasonably sure, if the people will survive or not, depending on, which direction they take, because you can see where the cities are. In other words, you know the future, the moment, the people start walking. The people have complete and absolute free will, on which direction they want to walk.
So, you have free will, and from another point of view, a predetermined future outcome, destiny. Same as a weather forecast.
If we scale this up, the deterministic universe, if we have a mathematical model, for each atom/subatomic particle, then the whole universe simulation, has already completed, with whatever final result, the entity, which created/started the simulation, wanted to achieve.

[bruceylwang]

Free will (intangible mental states) doesn’t need physical (tangible) explanation.
When we understand the Mind, we will know its interactive causation with the physical structures (PS).
To me, Mind is an intangible mental structure (MS). Body is a tangible physical structure (PS).
With structural model, the interaction between MS and PS can be analyzed.
This is a realistic (scientific) step closer to the Truth.

[rodraymond]

If I decided to sit still for 1 month without moving, eating, drinking, or pooping.

In short, I am instructing all organisms in my body to switch to power-saving mode. Isn't that a freewill?

[marksharman]

Still assuming consciousness is a product of material brain, though this has not been proved yet.

[stephenlawrence]

"I think I can raise my hand or not whenever I want".

That was in response to "it certainly feels like we have free will"

But being able to raise your hand or not whenever you want is compatible with determinism.

So it doesn't certainly feel like we have free will at all.

[Itsunobaka]

this debate brought to mind kant's contention that questions about free will, like the other antinomies he specifies, though interesting, are beyond what can be settled by observation and experience, and are therefore speculative, and thus prone to just the kind of circles david and robert found themselves in (and perhaps nothing more)

[mockupguy]

In my mind will and consciousness are two very different things.

[mockupguy]

How do you define free here? It is an important question.

If our choices are not based on past experiences and some personal preferences, which would make them deterministic, what are they based on then? If they are not based on anything then they are just random. Is random free?

[donespiritu]

David Eagleman won this discussion. Hands down.

[thomascollins]

This whole debate presupposes materialism. Materialism is a philosophy and not a science. It's a hypothesis at best (but not really since it's not falsifiable and hence not science)
If a view of the world says that you are an illusion of your own mind I'd say that means that view is invalid. Hence why materialism should not be taken too seriously.

[Ploskkky]

A wonderful lively conversation. Great stuff. Much better than wasting time on the magical invisible fantasy creatures of Christianity.

[jamesruscheinski]

How do language and logic function in brain?

[jamesruscheinski]

Mathematics of physical laws governing neuron activity could have free will from measurement update of quantum probabilities?

[stephenlawrence]

Libertarian free will is that we could have done otherwise in a way that makes us ultimately responsible for the choice.
Of course the choices we make and Nike make are distinguishable from that.

And yes I am capable of not eating a cookie but the question is when I did eat the cookie how could I have not done so? Assuming determinism I would have needed to have been predetermined to not eat the cookie, which I wasn't.

[spacebaby]

Thelema
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law,
love is the law,
love under will!

I appreciate the discussion!

[djangowoof]

How do hormones effect the neurons and synapses? cortisol or oxytocin?