Posted: Jul 10, 2018 7:50 am
GrahamH wrote:romansh wrote:I think Sabine's point is that the causal chain might not extend down to the fundamental substrate of the universe … whatever that might be. It is not clear to me how the strong emergence at the small scale leads to the possibility free will. Unless we are arguing that strong emergence leads to a freedom at some brain sized scale?
Regarding what one might mean by free will … for me it would be, could I have acted in someway that was independent of the deterministic and indeterministic processes that the universe is made up of? ending the sentence in a preposition
Isn't that the causal chain is broken, that larger scales literally play by rules that are not functions of the smaller scales?
If that interpretation applies then we are back in the realm of "multiple causal histories" where however precisely the conditions may be be re-established at the small scales the rules of the larger scale apply. Those rules being the strong emergence that decouples from the small scale.
I'm not sure, hence the phrasing as a question. I think you may be right with "strong emergence leads to a freedom at some brain sized scale" or, put another way "Our consciousness may be able to have a strong influence on what we do".
In that sense, "strong emergence" is like a prostitute who purrs in your ear, "I can be whatever you want me to be!"