Q&A: Quantum Mechanics and Free Choice
Quantum Mechanics and Free Choice
Question
Hello,
Suppose quantum phenomena operated on a scale relevant enough to affect brain activity:
I don’t understand why that couldn’t be the opening for free choice — we choose, and the chain has to start somewhere, so the particle collapses precisely to the point needed in order to carry out the intended action. (In line with what you wrote in the article "To Know in the Land…" that a statistical distribution does not necessarily indicate randomness.)
(This follows from your statement that the randomness of quantum mechanics prevents it from being a mechanism for choice.)
Answer
Because in quantum mechanics this is a random distribution, and choice is not random. If a person does not choose in a way that matches the quantum distribution in such a case, then what would happen?
Discussion on Answer
That is the hidden-variables thesis, most of whose versions have been ruled out. Beyond that, choice does not produce a distribution at all, so it cannot be the explanation for the distribution obtained in quantum mechanics.
Hi. What I mean is that I don’t understand what prevents one from saying that the randomness we attribute to quantum mechanics stems from our lack of understanding of the mechanisms that lead to collapse at one point rather than another. Just as in other systems we describe things in probabilistic terms even though there is a mechanism involved (like chaotic systems).
Thanks for the attention (1).