[Avodah] free will

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 01:40:08PM +0300, Eli Turkel wrote:
:> So, either QM is flawed, or bechirah chafshi has been proven.
: 
: Not really. Before one proves anything about free will one has to define it
: mathematically. The article uses a definition based on Shannon's
: theory of information....
: Hence, accepting the proof of the paper all it shows is that the
: events can be determined over large distances instantaneously only
: if all possible occurrences have equal probability.

I disagree with your opening thought. What the paper actually does
is prove the existence of one feature that anyone would include in a
definition of free will, and that is "freedom".

: Any connection of this to bechirah chofshit which is a philosophical
: and not mathematical entity is doubful. Besides extensions from
: QM events to human beings is another quantum leap.

This last sentence is my second point of contension. Because the
paper isn't about the probability of the quantum event, it's about the
probability of the experimentor measuring one feature rather than its
quantum complement.

They proved that such decisions of what to measure must be equally
probable, regardless of the choice of the other experimentor or any other
outside influence. And if we have the ability to make such non-compelled
decisions WRT measurements of quantum states, then we have shown the
ability in principle exists.

So while I concede that I was overexuberant to say that bechirah chafshi
was proven, the freedom *part* of free will has been.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Nothing so soothes our vanity as a display of
micha at aishdas.org        greater vanity in others; it makes us vain,
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Fax: (270) 514-1507              -Louis Kronenberger, writer (1904-1980)