Computer With Free Will: Is It Possible?

By Shivam B

Does anyone have free will? Do you have the ability to decide freely, make choices completely on your own? Or it is that you are presented with limited choices, and boxes you must comply to and fit it? Most people have what they call free will and relish in it. It means your decisions are not predetermined but can are done through your choice alone. Scientists can tell you are made up of molecules and atoms and governed by physics. But in terms of molecules and atoms, predictions can be made for any starting point. Thought about this way, there is no space for free will.

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Quantum Free Will

There is enough philosophy literature to fill a vast library. A trained scientist approached the problem this way: what is the evidence? He found that the research done by him showed no link between fundamental physics and free will. For example, you are on a stage facing two envelopes. 

You have been told that one is empty and another has $100. The option is you have to pick one option. But every time you win, it is the wrong one. By this, you can understand that your sense of free will is not as reliable as you might think.

Artificial Free Will

For scientists, it means creating a model of free will, and after that, you are going for testing. But the question is how to do it. It has been found that the philosophical literature does not look for tests for free will.

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The simple logic says that you will use the same to hold a pen almost 100% of the time if you are right-handed. This is what is considered artificial free will. So basing the research on the idea that our atoms, cells, and organs have no free will and in fact follow strict regimens, can we in fact build a computer that has a will of its own?