Stephen Wolfram, Unpredictable Causality (Chaos), and Free Will

Addendum (20110314), "Chaos theory, and Stephen Wolfram's Mathematica emulation of "chaos," could help us understand how complexity can arise out of chaotic events. And thus Mathematica may give us an inkling of how life could have arose from simple interactions (what he calls "programs") between certain molecules under the right circumstances. However, one must bear in mind that once life arose, pure chaos ended, because after biological systems arose, natural selection begin regulating the degree of "chaos" and complexity existing within each system. Sure, the random mutation and genetic drift may still fit the definition given to chaos. Thus, in that sense chaos may contribute to new genotypes. But then natural selection acts upon those genotypes via the emerging phenotypes.

Therefore, the organs of the body, such as the brain, are not chaotic systems but causally determined systems created by natural selection. And thus free will isn't a phenomenon that can ever be emulated by Mathematica and explained by chaos theory. This is because Free will is an old illusion that can be understood for what it is by using interdisciplinary, reductionistic, and reverse engineering approaches for studying the human brain."

The three clips of which this video is composed came from a lecture by Stephen Wolfram. Details follow, including links to a Wiki bio and to his WWW Sites.
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The H. Paul Rockwood Memorial Lecture: A New Kind of Science - Stephen Wolfram
First Aired: 6/1/2003 Total run time: 86 minutes

Noted scientist Stephen Wolfram shares his perspective of how the unexpected results of simple computer experiments have forced him to consider a whole new way of looking at processes in our universe.

http://www.uctv.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=7153
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Stephen Wolfram: Official Website

Site created 1995. © 2010 Stephen Wolfram, LLC
http://www.stephenwolfram.com
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Wolfram Science -- The Official Website of Stephen Wolfram's 'A New Kind of Science'

http://www.wolframscience.com
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Stephen Wolfram - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stephen Wolfram (born 29 August 1959) is a British physicist, software developer, mathematician, author and businessman, known for his work in theoretical particle physics, cosmology, cellular automata, computational complexity theory, computer algebra, the Mathematica software application, and the Wolfram Alpha computational knowledge engine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Wolfram
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Chaos theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Applications · Chaotic dynamics · History · Distinguishing random ...

Chaos theory is a field of study in applied mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology and philosophy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory
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Game theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Game theory is a branch of applied mathematics that is used in the social sciences, most notably in economics, as well as in biology (particularly evolutionary biology and ecology), engineering, political science, international relations, computer science, social psychology, philosophy and management.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory
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Tags: Software application, Mathematical software, Stephen Wolfram, Partical physics, Complexity theory, UCTV, UCtelevision, Unseenstrings, Determinism, Causality, Free will, Cosmology, Randomness, Human uniqueness, TOE, Theory of everything, Chaos theory, Deterministic chaos, AI, Artificial intelligence, Game theory

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Software application
• Mathematical software
• Stephen Wolfram
• Partical physics
• Complexity theory
• UCTV
• UCtelevision
• Unseenstrings
• Determinism
• Causality
• Free will
• Cosmology
• Randomness
• Human uniqueness
• TOE
• Theory of everything
• Chaos theory
• Deterministic chaos
• AI
• Artificial intelligence
• Game theory

[swdmn]

...act in ways that _seem_ free of obvious predictive laws. Can't see him defining free will anywhere, he just gives an explanation to why it appears to be free. His position seems pretty clear to me: There is no free will, but our computational irreducibility gives that illusion.

[unseenstrings]

@swdmn, I didn't read the book you provided a link for. Seems I should have. I was basing what I said on what he said in the video, i.e., ""Like, for example, for the problem of free will: It's always seemed mysterious how we manage to act in ways that seem free of obvious predictive laws, if it's the case that our brains actually follow definite underlying laws." Was he implying that it is not the case that our brains actually follow definite underlying laws? I don't think so. But others might.

[unseenstrings]

Besides, I felt the sciences of the brain were making pretty good headway in understanding the underlying mechanism of "mind," "will," and "consciousness." Of course, such would be necessary in order for the brain to be replicated electronically as he predicts. Well, admittedly, humans have always filled gaps in knowledge with myth to ease the fear of the unknown. Moreover, humans have historically reinforced their self-esteem to the point of egomaniacalism. They probably will continue to do so.

[MattMillwardSongs]

@unseenstrings Genetics are a large part of 'free will'. Explaining why family will make similar decisions and/or share opinions. Wether there is an environmental aspect to this is undetermined, but you cannot deny that someone outside of your family is more likely to make a vastly conflicting decision to your own, ergo it puts a quantified box around your illusion of free will, creating a series of patterns the same as something as simple as the colour of your eyes.

[unseenstrings]

@MattMillwardSongs, seems to me that in order for genetics to be a large part of 'free will,' the term as commonly used would need to be given a new definition to fit the new usage.

Also, determined can mean either caused or ascertained. Confusion arises when the average person reasons that undetermined means the opposite of determined. However, just because something cannot be ascertained does not mean it is without cause. Undetermined environmental influences are merely unascertained.

[unseenstrings]

Chaos theory suggest apparently chaotic phenomena can give rise to complexity. This coincides with the findings of Stephen Wolfram's Mathematica software application and the Wolfram Alpha computational knowledge engine. However, is natural selection a purely chaotic phenomenon? Is it possible natural selection is a separate equation that enters the picture of the simple program running on Mathematica? Can the unpredictability of pure chaos becomes predictable as the result of natural selection?

[NorthernRealmJackal]

Great video ..besides from that red-neck voice-over at the end, stating (without presenting a single usable argument) that the first 220 seconds of the video are "laughable", because the point-of-view presented herein is not "commonly accepted".

[swdmn]

"And it is this, I believe, that is the ultimate origing of the apparent freedom of human will. For even though all the components of our brains presumably follow definite laws, I strongly suspect that their overall behavior corresponds to an irreducible computation whose outcome can never in effect be found by reasonable laws." -- 'A New Kind of Science' page 750