Free Will vs. Fate

Well the premise is simple…

Free-will states that we make all of our own choices with no outside intervention whatsoever...while predestination states that all of our choices aren't really choices at all

Ok, so it starts like this...

Are you familiar with the Many Worlds Hypothesis (think Sliders)?

Many World Hypothesis states that for every choice or path a piece of matter or energy can make, it not only chooses one path but rather all paths. In choosing all paths, it causes the universe to split and in each universe the piece of said matter or energy takes and different path.

If we accept this hypothesis...

Every choice you make causes a split, a spin off universe...you go to Starbucks and have to choose between a cappuccino and a coffee, that causes a split.

In theory there are an almost infinite number of people.... each person in each universe a fully conscious being capable of making decisions. An infinite number of copies of you making an infinite number of decisions…get your head around that.

But…

No one copy can make the exact same decision as another copy...if that were to happen then the split would cease and the universes would collapse back into one instead of two or more...not a bad thing necessarily...but I digress.

In any given situation, in any given place in space and time, there are an almost infinite number of choices for you to make, but I say almost infinite, because only the highly improbable can happen...not the impossible.

So to cut to the chase...

At any given moment you have an almost infinite number of people making an almost infinite number of decisions, but each decision that is used up is a path that cannot be used by you, the person in this universe. Thus it is other versions of you that are limiting your choices...so the choices you make aren't really choices at all...it is process of elimination

The cap off to this discussion is...

Scientists don't know why we are conscious...they have no idea how to replicate consciousness...artificial intelligent experiments have failed...because it is not the complexity of a system that makes intelligence...there is something going on in our brains at the quantum level. It could mean that we are subconsciously and simultaneously aware of ALL are different selves thus we influence and are influenced by all of them.

Quantum theory explains the same thing as Many World's but on the subatomic scale.

Quantum Particle Theory: a particle can only take one path in this universe, but if a myriad of paths are available, then not only can they take it, they must take it. The particle does this through the Splitting into many versions. We don't see this because of something called the Heisenberg uncertainty principle (briefly stated: you can know the speed, or the position of a particle...but never both at the same time...the act of observing the particle changes it's state). So the particle splits into many versions, fulfilling each path, but the act of observation collapses it back into one particle and one path, the path it took in this universe.

Particle physics, indeed physics of any kind requires an outside observer...the nature of our minds and consciousness makes it possible to collapse these possibilities into the single reality we experience.

Thus establishing the link between the nature of consciousness and quantum behaviour of particles. Applied on a larger scale to the Many World's hypothesis, also explains why we could have a link between our many different versions of ourselves, and how information can be passed between isolated universes.

So the next time you play the lottery, even if you don’t win, take solace in the thought that many different versions of you did win all because you chose to play.