Information and free will (Introduction)

by dhw, Monday, October 10, 2011, 19:43 (4793 days ago) @ David Turell

ROMANSH: David - it's not just constraints beyond our control. Brains, DNA genetics etc. It's about the information we receive and the universe we are born into.I would like to know when we discuss free will what exactly are we free from.

DAVID: The brain is very plastic. It can grow new connections in every direction from the neurons that affect memory, ideation, knowledge,etc. Nothing can control what I want my brain to do for me. I can analyze any information I receive and reach my own conclusions. I know that I am not free from my parent's influence on me as a child. From recent research I know that my Mother had a tremendous influence on my intelligence. Mothers who read to their children and stimulate them to learn increase the child's IQ. Tell me what we are not free from?!

After a great deal of discussion, I thought we had agreed on the following definition of free will:

“an entity’s conscious ability to control its decision-making process within given constraints.” The constraints are imposed by:
1) Nature and/or the situation
2) Factors connected with the decision-making process itself (e.g. our own genetic make-up)

To genetic make-up we can add parental influence, education, the effects of chance through accidents, encounters, illnesses etc. All of these are beyond our control, and for much of the time we are not even aware of their influence. However, like you, I feel that I am in control, and I’m inclined to think that it’s a pointless exercise to dig into all the circumstances that might invalidate my feeling. If we do have free will, there is generally no way we can draw clear borderlines between conscious control and unconscious influences, and in any case individuals and societies can only function if they assume it exists.

In response to Romansh, I would say that if we do have free will, we are free from at least some of those unknown quantities that make up (2). In other words, our genetic make-up and all the other influences do not have total control over our decision-making ability, but there is a mechanism that remains independent of them. This is something we cannot know until we pin-point the nature and source of consciousness/will/identity – which we may never be able to do.

With regard to the rest of your post, obviously no decision can be free from the information we receive (there would be nothing to decide if we didn’t have some sort of information), and since the universe we are born into comprises everything, you could argue that no decision can be free from the universe. That’s all too woolly for me. Perhaps you could tell us (a) if you still accept the above definition (though I think you objected for some reason to the inclusion of “conscious”), and (b) exactly what sort of information and what aspects of the universe you’re referring to, if they’re not covered by the constraints I’ve listed.