Can Free Will Emerge from Determinism in Quantum Theory?

Abstract

AbstractQuantum mechanics is generally considered to be the ultimate theory capable of explaining the emergence of randomness by virtue of the quantum measurement process. Therefore, quantum mechanics can be thought of as God’s wonderfully imaginative solution to the problem of providing His creatures with free will in an otherwise well-ordered Universe. Indeed, how could we dream of free will in the purely deterministic Universe envisioned by Laplace if everything ever to happen is predetermined by (and in principle calculable from) the actual conditions or even those existing at the time of the Big Bang?In this chapter, we share our view that quantum mechanics is in fact deterministic, local and realistic, in complete contradiction with most people’s perception of Bell’s theorem, thanks to our new theory of parallel lives. Accordingly, what we perceive as the so-called “collapse of the wavefunction” is but an illusion. Then we ask the fundamental question: Can a purely deterministic Quantum Theory give rise to the illusion of nondeterminism, randomness, probabilities, and ultimately can free will emerge from such a theory?KeywordsFree willRealismLocalityChurch of the larger Hilbert spaceDeterminismParallel lives