I’m not talking about the brain. I’m talking about an object which is put into a superposition of two places. Say it’s a speck of dust that you put into two locations at once. Now, in a small fraction of a second, it will become one or the other. Which does it become? Well, that’s a choice. Is it a choice made by the universe? Does the speck of dust make this choice? Maybe it’s a free choice. I have no idea.
Roger Penrose
The question is indeed difficult. In addition, one should try to separate the concepts of “predetermined”, “random” and “arbitrary choice”.
If everything is completely defined, then there is nothing to even talk about. Everything was predetermined at the moment of the big bang, and maybe even before it. Everything around is predetermined. Your affairs are predetermined. Even your every thought is predetermined. And the future of all things is also predetermined. There is no freedom of choice here at all. And in my opinion, such a model is suitable if the time of existence of the universe is limited. And when everything is cyclical. The universe arose, exists and disappears. At the moment of the birth of the universe, there may be some randomnicity. Although these may be higher order predestinations. Or there may not be any coincidences. The predeterminations in the new universe will flow from the predeterminations of the previous one.
The model in which all three concepts participate is more plausible. And here it is very interesting that our universe is suitable for the appearance of life in it. And it means that it is suitable for the appearance in it for the mind. I do not think that non-emergentism is in accordance with the real laws of the universe. But it may well be that biological life is a derivative of life of a higher order.
If we return to the issue of freedom of choice. Then there is never complete freedom. There are many restrictions. Both internal and external. There is a very fine line. The boundaries within which someone can make a choice.
A speck of dust should not have consciousness. Her choice can be based on her inner state. At first, it seems that the universe cannot choose either. She only dictates the laws of choice. But this is at first glance. Dictated by our perception of the world. Does the material world familiar to us exist at all? Or is it just our event of the ongoing quantum processes. We can still only speculate about what the universe is all about. And that’s bad. Everyone puts their own meaning in this term. Perhaps our universe is just a torus-shaped wave. The surface we live on. And this pushes for the idea of a multiverse. To the idea that there are laws of our particular universe, and there are laws that our universe obeys.
What did the reasoning lead to? Does a speck of dust have freedom of choice? Most likely no. And who, then, will determine her fate? As always, there are more questions than answers. As always, there were more questions than answers. More and more new knowledge is needed. And it would seem such a simple question. Can anyone answer it simply?