Once, I was going through a small period of existential crisis. For two weeks I inquired about some of most important questions which I have always taken for granted, for example: where I am going with my daily routine? Is this I want from life? Can I be anything I want to be? Is future fixed or I create it form my decisions? Do I have free will?
The habit of using physics led me to ask more sensible questions:
Is there anything in our control in this world? Or are we just puppets of laws of nature, bound to think and make decisions in a way we are supposed to? In short, Is our future fixed?
I will discuss the most important question which will ease the most of existential crisis, which is:
Do we have free will?
Before I discuss it further; let me state its definition for you.
Free will is defined as the power or ability to make our own decisions about our life rather than being controlled by any outside influence. Most of us will agree with an "yes", and think that we do have absolute freedom of deciding and controlling our surroundings and our lives. We believe that we have ability to think freely about anything, and we are absolutely responsible for what we think and do. Moreover, we also decide among multiple options without having any influence from outside. But Physics has a different way of looking at it, and you may not like the final conclusion of it. This journey of understanding is reduced to small number of steps.
I will try to approach this problem using fundamental physics.The fact is : The visible universe is strictly made up of particles. By visible universe, I mean you, me, all living and non living beings, planets, starts, galaxies, everything which acquire space are just bound states of plethora of fundamental particles.
For instance, we are made up of cells; cells are made up of water, organic molecules, and macromolecules. Further inspection under transition electron microscope tells us that water is just liquid phase of many molecules of \(H_{2}O\), and other organic and macromolecules are also made up of different kinds of atoms (mostly carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and oxygen). All atoms are made up of different numbers of Neutron, proton and electron. Neutrons and protons are further made up of up and down quarks. Quarks and electrons are not made up of anything; and hence we say that : Quarks and electrons are fundamental particles. So in short our universe is mostly composed of Quarks and electrons. "Mostly" because there are other kinds of particles too but are too small in number.
The most interesting fact is that these fundamental particles are of no size; and yet contains several properties like charge, mass, spin and color charge. The finite size of collection of these particles arise from fundamental forces of nature.
Let us return back to our original quest.
Now we know that we are just bound states (or collection of) huge number of fundamental particles and these fundamental particles move according to four fundamental forces (gravity, strong force, electromagnetism, weak force).
Let us try to consider the evolution of universe with time. We see that universe is changing with time; we can study the change using mathematics.
Let us say that universe is in some configuration at time t=t'. With time the state of universe changes according to laws of nature (since the fundamental particles will change their positions and velocities according to fundamental laws/forces of nature.)
The state of universe at any time t=t' is result of initial state (at time t=t'-\({\delta t}\), where \({\delta t}\) is some infinitesimal time interval) and fundamental laws of nature during the interval \({\delta t}\). It implies that any present state of universe is the result of past state of the universe and fundamental laws of nature. The past state of universe was in hands of more paster configuration and laws of nature (which don't change with time). We can run it more backwards and say that the initial conditions of big bang and laws of nature decided that one day I will be here writing this blog and you will be scrolling using some technology which will be developed not because some souls had power to think; but because universe is a machine composed of fundamental particles making all such planets, starts, light and all living beings and revealing itself as time passes.
So If ask you, what was in your control?????
The answer is NOTHING, you have no control over the universe; not your present state; not your past; and certainly not your future. Now you must think who is experiencing this life?
Here comes the hardest problem which physicists and neuroscientists could not yet solve and it is known as the The hard problem of consciousness.
I know you will be like: No... No ..; How I think then?? What is thinking and deciding?
Consider thinking as some state of brain with neural activity where some neural network path is activated. If you have thinking that "you want water" or "you want to run" or "why that happened " or "any thought" is just a specific activation of neural paths. This activation is again some state which was in the hands of past and laws of nature (specifically laws of electrodynamics).
We are made of fundamental particles which behave according to fundamental laws of nature. The state of such collection of particles (including us and our whole universe) is result of past (initial conditions) and rules of evolution of states(which are controlled by fundamental laws of nature). We are nothing but a collection of particles going through things we can't control.
In short we are bound to experience everything according to laws of nature. Future is not in our hands; future is result of what we think, what we do, but again that will and act is not in our hands. This raises questions regarding moral responsibilities, praise and culpability. True blamers (for bad events) and true praise deservers (for good events and achievements) are laws of nature and initial conditions of big bang.
Since we work in civil society we would like to contain such bound states of particles which have committed crimes; even Laws of state or penal codes are not in our hands; it is all the drama of universe.
You could then ask; is it possible to have free will in any universe; or can we create a world with stars and galaxies and planets with different laws such that we have free will?
The short answer is "NO"; as again it is impossible to have free will where universe is evolving due to laws of nature, and initial conditions. Universe is a 4D static picture (image) where future, past and present coexist.
- First Images is created from DALL-E.
- Second Images is taken from Wikipedia.