Acting in the World: A Physical Model of Free Choice

As science reaches further into the cognitive domain, questions once thought firmly outside the realm of science are becoming subjects of scientific inquiry. One of the foremost challenges is the relationship of our thoughts and intentions to the world we study and manipulate. Once thought intractable, this problem seems newly open to scientific discovery. Neurological correlates of many cognitive functions are being discovered, yielding advances in medicine and education. The growth of artificial intelligence raises the possibility that intelligent behavior can be understood scientifically, formalized, and engineered into intelligent devices. Yet the problem of free will eludes our grasp. We have the distinct sense that we make choices, and those choices have effects. The world is different from what it would have been had we chosen otherwise. But could we really have chosen otherwise, or are the choices we make determined by the electrochemistry of our brains? This paper examines a proposed theory of a physical basis for efficacious free choice, and asks whether it can be operationalized as a concrete, falsifiable model. The hypothesized mechanism involves automatic generation by the brain of templates for action, which are held in place by rapidly repeated quantum self-measurement events. A computer simulation of this model could support investigation of whether, using biologically plausible parameter settings, the hypothesized mechanism can produce macroscopic behavioral effects. Ultimately, such investigations could lead to empirical tests of the theory.