Philosophical Cud: Free will and other super powers

At some point, we all ask ourselves: “If I could have a super power, what would it be?” We then usually come up with some ability that sounds like it would be fun to employ for a weekend and subsequently go about the day. It’s not an understatement to say that we, as a people, don’t invest very heavily in imaginary supernatural abilities. What we do invest rather heavily in, however, is free will. We live our lives under the assumption that we, and those around us, are ultimately free to make decisions. Our basic concepts of morality and law assume that people are able to choose how they act; free will is completely ingrained in society. Supernatural abilities aren’t taken seriously in real life, but what if the existence of our free will was synonymous with the existence of super powers, after a fashion?

If free will exists, then humans are capable of causing changes in the world. For this to be true, our minds must exist outside of space, or more specifically, outside of the Newtonian, extended world that our bodies occupy. This is because the physical world that we live in is governed by laws of nature, which are predictable. For example, if a pool ball is struck, our knowledge of physics allows us to predict where it will end up. It’s movement is determined by natural laws. If, however, free will exists and a person is hit with the same cue as the ball, it’s up to him what happens next. Free will means that sentient beings aren’t determined in the same way that the rest of the universe is.

By making choices, humans are capable of altering the state of the universe. By acting on free will, we change the physical system in a way that is unpredictable, and therefore inconsistent with physical laws. Consider a physical object such as a soccer ball. The ball won’t move unless someone chooses to kick it. Willing makes it possible to change the way things are. This “changing” presumably begins in the brain and then propagates to our limbs and muscles through electrical and chemical signals. The will, which exists outside of space due to its independence of the laws of physics, directly changes the physical state of the body. If free will exists, we can change a small part of the universe by merely thinking about it. Isn’t this the very definition of telekinesis?

Our wills, supposing that they are truly free, make an observable, measurable impact on the otherwise stable, immutable physical system that is our universe. If this is the case, I can’t help but to ask, what’s stopping the will from affecting more than small bits in the brain? If I can will to move my body, and in so doing alter the physical system of my brain causing a chain of events which culminates in the muscle fibers of my arm contracting, why can’t I will other changes in the universe? What is the fundamental difference between changing the state of my brain, and, say, lifting a pencil into the air? Telekinesis is already taking place on a micro-scale, so what’s stopping it from affecting medium sized objects?

It goes without saying that there are more than a few explanations for why this is. To begin, I don’t know what it would be to will something to move. When willing our bodies to move, we don’t think about neurons firing, we think about the part that we want to “activate.” It wouldn’t make sense to try to make a neuron fire; that happens without our desire, much like a heartbeat. We obviously can’t control the state of our brain in the way that we can control our muscles, so it makes sense that we are equally impotent in attempts to change the universe outside of the brain by merely thinking about it. We don’t make telekinesis happen according to our wishes, but it seems to happen nonetheless. If free will exists, so does telekinesis – it’s just not as fun as we’d like it to be. Until next week, either derive a more entertaining super power, or just be content with free will. It’s your choice, right?