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Is Free Will an Illusion?
A response evoked by (not directed at) this essay published in Nature
By Bradley Monk
Our editor for The Axon, Jeremy Biane had idea for an appropriate definition of free will, that I am going to expand upon. Let's call this theory the “everything being equal - test," which could be both the definition and the experiment. It’s my contention that it would prove humans, and probably most animals, have free will. But I can only imagine this two-option choice test that I have in mind, being anything other than theoretical. It would be one in which the test apparatus could adjust to balance the sum of the antecedent forces influencing the test-subject. Lets assume the test is measuring whether an entity can chose to go right or left. Suppose the apparatus is a round platform that slides along a track; a computer is used to control the movement of the platform. Say, a rock is released from 3 feet above the platform, at which point the computer calculates for the necessary adjustments, and a sliding mechanism puts the platform on the direct coordinates crunched by the computer. The rock should land on the sloped platform at end up in equilibrium. At this point, it is likely that the rock is not going to make any further decision about which way it should go, so it is assumed that a rock does not have the ability to choose left over right, and thus does not have free will. If you could make a similar apparatus to test humans... Full Article
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