I present to you a simple argument I’ve heard before.

Everything humans do can be explained as a combination of behaviors they exhibit. These behaviors in turn are caused by the interaction of various systems in the body such as the endocrine, nervous, and reproductive systems. These systems function due to the interaction of the cells which form them. Cellular physiology is determined by a set of biochemical pathways which respond to stimuli from the environment. These biochemical pathways have certain kinetics and thermodynamics which can be elucidated by chemistry. Chemistry is just applied physics.

THEREFORE, a set of physics equations, properly connected and implemented at the right scale, could predict human behavior. They would probably be able to do so probabilistically, however, if we could figure out all possible “hidden variables” we could give a definite answer to what any person would do in any given situation.

THEREFORE, human behavior is deterministic, and the human world is fatalistic.

THEREFORE, we have no free will.

Agree or disagree? I will deconstruct this one on another post, but it’s fun to think about. Physicists have trouble with the three-body problem, neuroscientists want to solve the brain with computers, and philosophers dispute whether free will truly exists. So… what do you think?