Reply #28: "determinism, like solipsism, is logically possible" [View All]

[bananas]

The original Free Will Theorem is here: http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0604079
They did a follow-up called the Strong Free Will Theorem which addressed some objections.

A couple of snippets from the end of the original paper:

11. Philosophical Remarks related to the Free Will theorem

<snip>

It follows that we cannot prove our Free Will assumption – determinism,
like solipsism, is logically possible. Both the non-existence of free agents in
determism and the external world in solipsism are rightly conjured up by
philosophers as consistent if unbelievable universes to show the limits of what
is possible, but we discard them as serious views of our universe.

<snip>

Free versus Random? Although we find ourselves unable to give an
operational definition of either “free” or “random,” we have managed to distinguish
between them in our context, because free behavior can be twinned,
while random behavior cannot (a remark that might also interest some philosphers
of free will).

<snip>

The world it presents us with is a fascinating one, in which fundamental
particles are continually making their own decisions.

<snip>