If the future is all determined, what is free will? ― Thinking about Laplace's Demon ―

Hello.
This is the "Why Why Lab"🧪

Last time, I wrote about the reason I created this lab.

And starting this time, we will finally begin researching "Why?"

The first theme is――

Laplace's Demon.

The name alone is already intriguing🤣

But what I was most curious about in this story wasn't the "demon."

If the future is all determined, what exactly are the things we think we "decided for ourselves"?

That is the question.

The more I think about it,

“Wait, so this too?”
“Hold on. What even is free will in the first place?”

And the "whys" just won't stop🤣

Today, I'd like to dive into that rabbit hole with you.

⸻

What is Laplace's Demon?

Pierre-Simon Laplace, an 18th-19th century French mathematician and physicist.

To put his idea very, very simply,

If there were an intelligence that perfectly knew the state of everything in the universe at a given moment and the natural laws that move it, couldn't it calculate both the future and the past?

That is the concept.

Later, this hypothetical intelligence came to be called "Laplace's Demon."

For example, billiards.

The position, speed, direction, force of the shot, friction, etc. of the balls...

If you could accurately grasp all the necessary conditions,

“This ball will hit here, and then move over there.”

It seems like you could predict it.

So then.

What if you expanded this to the entire universe?

If you could perfectly know the state of every particle in the universe and all the laws――

What will happen tomorrow.

What will happen 100 years from now.

Me writing this note today.

You reading this text right now.

Can it all be calculated?

If so...

Does that mean the future is already decided?

My brain starts getting busy from here🤣

⸻

Was "deciding for myself" also decided?

We choose various things every day.

What shall I eat today.

Let's go to work.

Let's take a break today.

Let's contact this person.

Let's read this article.

Every time we do,

We think, "I decided this myself."

But if you think through the world of Laplace's Demon,

Doesn't it start to seem like even that brain activity of "deciding" is just a result born from the state immediately preceding it?

You're torn between A and B,

And you decide, "Alright, I'll go with B!"

But,

What if the point where you wanted to choose B was already decided?

...Oh😨

Then did I,

Really choose B myself?

⸻

What even is "free will" in the first place?

This is where I get stuck.

Is free will,

The "feeling of choosing for yourself without being forced by anyone"?

Or is it,

Being able to make a choice with only yourself as the cause, without being influenced by anything at all?

These are completely different, right?

Because even if I,

Thought, "I want to eat ramen today!"

It might be because I saw ramen on TV yesterday.

It might be because I'm hungry.

It might be because I have a memory of ramen I ate a long time ago being delicious.

When you think about it that way,

You start to wonder, "Where does the 'I' in 'I decided' actually begin?"

I was supposed to be thinking about Laplace's Demon,

But I'm already in another rabbit hole🤣

⸻

So, if the future is decided, do I not need to do anything?

Here is a common question.

If the future is all decided,

Don't you think, "It's all the same no matter what I do"?

I think so too🤣

But, wait a minute.

Suppose I decide, "The future is decided, so I'm not going to do anything today!"

...What if even that "deciding not to do anything" was already decided?

🤣🤣🤣

There's no escape.

In other words, even if it's a world where the future is decided,

Worrying.

Thinking.

Acting.

Stopping.

Failing.

Regretting.

And,

Even thinking, "If the future is decided, I won't do anything!"

All of that is included within that future.

If so,

"The future is decided" and "I don't need to do anything" might be different stories.

⸻

Here, even more "whys" emerge

And I go to even stranger places🤣

If,

Even the brain function that thought, "Let's choose this," is part of a natural phenomenon...

What is the "I" that is watching that thought?

Is the brain me?

Is the thought me?

Is the emotion me?

Is the consciousness that feels "I am thinking" me?

In the first place――

What am I?

...Where did the Laplace's Demon story go🤣

But I think this is the interesting part of thought experiments.

When you dig into one question,

Another "why?" emerges from beneath it.

And even things that were so obvious you never doubted them,

Suddenly start to look mysterious.

⸻

By the way, can Laplace's Demon really exist?

This is a bit of real science talk.

Science has advanced significantly since Laplace's time.

Especially in quantum mechanics, it has become difficult to think of the future as simply "all accurately predictable."

Furthermore, there are issues like chaos, where slight differences lead to large differences later.

So in modern science,

You can't simply say, "An existence that can perfectly predict the future if it knows everything in the universe is truly possible."

But.

I don't end up saying here,

“So Laplace's Demon was wrong. The end!”🤣

Rather,

So is the future not decided?

Are being unpredictable and being undecided the same thing?

If there is quantum randomness, is that free will?

...See.

The "whys" have increased again🤣

⸻

Today's research results

So, the second installment of the Why Why Lab.

The research result is――

I don't know🤣

Is the future decided?

Does free will exist?

What does "I decide" even mean in the first place?

No answer was found.

But I think that's fine.

It's not just about knowing the answer,

But about asking "Really?" to things you thought were obvious.

Then, the usual world looks a little bit mysterious.

That is what I want to do in this lab🧪

Now then.

What do you think?

Even if the future is all decided, do you think you are "choosing for yourself"?

Or――

Do you think that even starting to think about this question now was decided from the beginning?🤣