October 2020

Wednesday, the 14th

So there are a lot of self-help books available. Whatever your problem, someone knows enough about it to help you learn how to solve it. My self-help book is quite general.

Wednesday, the 21st

free will again

what's the definition of a free electron?

well. electrons have well defined properties $e$. the rest of the universe has remaining properties $r$. in modern physics, we can ascribe a state for the whole universe, $\psi(e, r)$. if it is possible to write $\psi(e, r) = \phi(e)\xi(r)$, then we say that the electron with properties $e$ is free.

what's the definition of free will?

well. suppose we can agree to define ``will'' with properties $w$. then, as above, the whole universe is described by $\sigma(w, r)$. to the extent that ``will'' is reducible to the complete description of a brain, it seems perfectly reasonable that there exists a nonnegligible set of possible states $\sigma(w, r)$ that can be written as a product $\eta(w) \theta(r)$.

is it possible to define ``will'' such that no $\eta$ and $\theta$ exist? I suppose so, if we insist. otherwise, it seems that free will is just as reasonable as free electrons.