:28:02
But look at yourself.
We're just physical systems too.
:28:05
We're just complex arrangements
of carbon molecules.
:28:07
We're mostly water,
:28:09
and our behavior isn't gonna be
an exception to basic physical laws.
:28:12
So it starts to look like whether it's
God setting things up in advance...
:28:15
and knowing everything
you're gonna do...
:28:17
or whether it's these basic
physical laws governing everything.
:28:20
There's not a lot of room
left for freedom.
:28:22
So now you might be tempted
to just ignore the question,
:28:24
ignore the mystery
of free will.
:28:26
Say, "Oh, well, it's just an historical
anecdote. It's sophomoric.
:28:29
It's a question with no answer.
Just forget about it."
:28:33
But the question keeps staring you
right in the face.
:28:35
You think about individuality,
for example, who you are.
:28:38
Who you are is mostly a matter
of the free choices that you make.
:28:42
Or take responsibility.
You can only be held responsible,
:28:45
you can only be found guilty
or admired or respected...
:28:48
for things you did
of your own free will.
:28:51
The question keeps coming back, and we
don't really have a solution to it.
:28:54
It starts to look like all your
decisions are really just a charade.
:28:57
Think about how it happens.
There's some electrical activity
in your brain.
:29:00
Your neurons fire. They send
a signal down into your nervous system.
:29:03
It passes along down
into your muscle fibers.
:29:06
They twitch. You might, say,
reach out your arm.
:29:09
Looks like it's
a free action on your part,
:29:11
but every one of those--
every part of that process...
:29:14
is actually governed by
physical law:
:29:17
chemical laws,
electrical laws and so on.
:29:19
So now it just looks like the Big Bang
set up the initial conditions,
:29:22
and the whole rest
of our history,
:29:24
the whole rest of human history
and even before,
:29:26
is really just sort of the playing out
of subatomic particles...
:29:29
according to these basic
fundamental physical laws.
:29:31
We think were special. We think we
have some kind of special dignity,
:29:34
but that now
comes under threat.
:29:36
I mean, that's really
challenged by this picture.
:29:39
So you might be saying, "Well, wait a
minute. What about quantum mechanics?
:29:41
"I know enough contemporary
physical theory to know
it's not really like that.
:29:44
"It's really
a probabilistic theory.
:29:46
There's room. It's loose.
It's not deterministic."
:29:49
And that's gonna enable us
to understand free will.
:29:51
But if you look at the details,
it's not really gonna help...
:29:54
because what happens is you have
some very small quantum particles,
:29:57
and their behavior is
apparently a bit random.
:29:59
They swerve. Their behavior is absurd
in the sense that it's unpredictable...