Physics and chemistry govern the brain. I.e. it is a complex DETERMINISTIC biological machine. The mind MAY also be, but this is certainly an open question. All of us tend to believe we have some freedom of action and choice. I.e. “free will.”
How the brain could create the mind with “free will” usually requires some exception to the laws of physics and chemistry be made. – A “Human Spirit, gift of God,” etc.
This ancient dilemma bothered me for years. - I have Ph. D. in physics and yet, like most of you, think I have non-illusionary free will. Finally I found a solution which permits free will to be consistent with classical physics and chemistry. (Others have suggested several solutions that are built on the uncertainty principle of quantum physics, but I would rather have no free will than one built on chance.)
Most will not like my solution, but I am happy with it. It vaguely follows Bishop Berkley’s view, but God is not involved. Like him, I think the world we live in is not real, but a simulation of the physical world run in the brain. I think my view is unique, at least in the rational I provide, but would appreciated correction on this point, if you have seen it elsewhere.
Most will think my “we live in a simulated world and are part of that simulation” crazy, but if you read the paper:
"Reality, Perception, and Simulation: A Plausible Theory" which appeared in the APL Technical Journal, volume 15, number 2 (1994) pages 154 - 163. You can send Email to
helen.worth@jhuapl.edu to ask for copy. (jhu = Johns Hopkins Univ. where I got my Ph. D, and then worked at their Applied Physics Lab for 30 years. I.e. I am not some nut.)
You may not think me crazy, probably will, but most of this paper (~85%) describes in some detal (functionally, not neurologically) how the visual system works, so at least you may learn something about that.
In the visual part of the paper, I present a proof that the standard view of cognitive science about vision (perception is the result of neural computational transforms of retinal data) is false and that Descartes in his “dioptics” written back in 1637 is more correct.