Already back in April 23, 2012, it was announced ( http://blog.dropbox.com/?p=1138 ) that shareable URL links can now be obtained by right-clicking any file or folder in the Dropbox, not only those in the “Public” folder. Whoever receives that link, can view or download tha data, but cannot modifiy it. This new feature will make it easier to organize data on the harddisk, because one need not think in advance which files will be public and which are private.
D. Dennett argues in his book Freedom Evolves that even within a completely deterministic world, life forms with a Free Will according to the two-stage model (7) could evolve. For example, Conway’s Game of Life is capable of universal computation. This facilitates pseudo-random generators, making a simulated history of Life effectively unpredictable. The pseudo-random generators could be used to create mutations in an open-ended evolutionary process and to cause unpredictable accidents. In such a Life World, self-protecting adaptive agents with a kind of Free Will could evolve. The deterministic algorithm behind the apparently random mutations might be so perfectly capsuled (or hidden in low system levels) that prediction can be regarded as practically impossible for the agents of this Life World.
But could we maintain a healthy feeling of Free Will, even if we knew that our world is only practically unpredictable and not truly in-deterministic ? I agree (to a certain extent) that humans are able to suppress their knowledge of determinism and still enjoy life as if it were in-deterministic: Just consider the thrill of reading a good novel. The text of the novel is obviously pre-existing, but this does not prevent us from being excited about the further development of the story.
On the other hand, I don’t understand why Dennett does not want to use genuine quantum in-determinism for his arguments. Quantum mechanics is one of our best tested theories. Nature is providing us with genuine in-determinism. Why not accepting this fact and making it an essential part of our world view ?
The world is in-deterministic on the quantum level. However, regular predictable patterns emerge on the macroscopic level by the collective action of many quantum particles. This regularity makes it possible for adapted organisms to survive in their environment. On the other hand, under suitable conditions (DNA mutation by high energy photons, neuron ion channels,..) quantum in-determinism is amplified into the macro world. It “breaks the causal chain” and produces unpredictable novelty, a condition for all creative processes (5).
Humans are constricted in their actions by the environment. Also, their thought patterns usually become less and less open for change as a strong personal character is emerging with increasing age (4). Nevertheless, by creating in their brains genuinely novel solutions to the problems of life [using an in-deterministic random idea generator (6), internal consequence simulation and a selection mechanism] humans are free within the bounds of their personal character and of their environment. On slightly longer time scales, it is even possible to change the environment (technology, politics,..) and the workings of the own brain (meditation techniques,..).
PS: It turned out that this view corresponds roughly to the so-called “two-stage models of free will”. However, the “bead bath analogy (6)” shows that the random choice generator and the selector must not actually be realized in two separate “stages”.
In creative evolutionary processes (5), an already working complex system (of cells, thoughts, etc.), with a high degree of internal consistency and a complex organization, is randomly modified in order to find an even better system. It may be hard to believe that completely random changes, within a reasonable time, can find any improvement in a situation with so many constricting conditions to be met (frustration in rugged fitness landscapes). But it is possible to imagine a random generator that produces only “valid variants” from the beginning:
Assume a kind of flexible Petri dish with side walls (boundaries) that can be reconfigured. The form of the Petri dish boundary represents a new problem to be solved. The dish is filled with water and a set of colored beads is swimming at the surface. The beads have repulsive or attractive pairwise interactions, according to their color combinations. These interactions represent the internal constrictions of the problem. Bead configurations with a small global potential energy (with the repulsive beads far from each other and the attractive beads close together) represent a good solution to the problem at hand. If the Petri dish is heated from below, the random thermal water fluctuations constantly change the bead configuration. However, due to the internal interactions, the good low energy solutions have a much higher probability to occur and to persist (controlled here by the Boltzmann distribution of energy). This is a random generator which preferably produces “reasonable” suggestions.
Creative ideas may come into being by a process resembling the natural evolution of new species: Many random variants and new combinations of existing concepts are produced (mutation), probably on a subconscious level. These are then evaluated with respect to their degree of inner coherence and their relevance for the goal at hand (selection). The best candidates are further developed and optimized.
When we are young, many things and ideas appear new and exciting. As we grow older, the world is experienced more and more boring and demystified. The main reason for this “adult boredom” may be the way that our brain is processing incoming information: In order to reduce mental effort, all sensory input is immediately compared to already stored patterns. The new is expressed in terms of the old, which results in a dramatic information compression (Compare to “Principal Component Analysis” in artificial pattern recognition systems). Most new experiences are just gradual variants, or combinations, of former “prototypical experiences”. Only if a new pattern arrives that cannot be expressed in terms of any known prototype, the exciting sensation of “newness” is triggered and the brain has a chance to add a new prototype to its repertoire. So, naturally, while our pattern repertoire is growing with each year of life experience, fundamental expansions of category space are happening less and less frequently. Life is becoming boring as we come to know it. Note that “adult boredom” is therefore a natural consequence of our hierarchical personality development, which can be understood with the “landscape formation” metaphor (3).
Imagine an originally flat land which, by erosion, gradually forms into a complex structured landscape, such as the Grant Canyon. The initial condition is highly symmetric (flat surface, homogeneous rain fall), but the first drops of rain drain off in the form of little brooks (spontaneous symmetry breaking), which later become reinforced (positive feedback) and eventually grow into streams and valleys. In the early part of this structure formation process, the major “decisions” are made (main streams and valleys). Later changes are constricted by these frozen-in, early decisions and determine mainly the fine structure of the major formations (small side valleys, form of the river bank). Such hierarchical structure formation processes are found in many complex systems, not only in geology, but also in biology (embryo development), technical and social systems. Their common feature is a hierarchical sequence of spontaneous symmetry breakings.
Evolution is an example of downward causation: The macro-level goal of adaption to the environment “leads to” an optimal set of genes at the micro-level.
Breaking down major goals into micro goals has several advantages:
One manifest example of this “divide and conquer” method is the splitting of a long essay (which might never get finished) into small, interrelated tumblr posts.
