Free Will and Physics

Is our will genuinely free and, if so, how are we to conceive of this freedom? These are clearly two of the most profound questions concerning our human condition. In this century developments in modern physics have led many philosophers and physicists to speculate on the relevance of physics to questions concerning free will. Determinists such as J. J. C. Smart, Ted Honderich and Derk Pereboom argue that quantum mechanics is either irrelevant to brain operations, consciousness and free will, or requires incredible coincidences in order to be involved in free will. Recent work by Henry Stapp, and Ilya Prigogine's Brussels-Austin Group, however, suggests a kind of interplay between determinism and indeterminism offering new avenues for research on how physics may be connected with consciousness and free will.