Is Science Compatible with Our Desire for Freedom?
Barcelona, Spain | October 28-30, 2010
Meeting Summary: When faced with a conflict between human freedom and a deterministic neuroscience, two rational positions are possible: either human freedom is an illusion, or deterministic neuroscience is not the last word about the brain and will eventually be superseded by a neuroscience admitting processes not completely determined by the past. Accordingly, this Experts Meeting aims to investigate whether it is possible to have a science in which there is room for human freedom, and in particular whether today’s quantum physics might offer an appropriate framework for this purpose.
Principal Inquiries: • Does today’s quantum physics offer a framework that might be capable of coping with free will and other non-material principles?
• Is there room in today’s biology and neuroscience for free will, personal identity, self-consciousness, and religious experiences?
• Does deterministic science rule out the possibility of moral and legal responsibility?
Speakers: Antonio Acín - The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO)
True Quantum Randomness
Gilles Brassard - Université de Montréal
Can Free Will Emerge from Determinism in Quantum Theory?
Andrew Briggs - Oxford University
Quantum Randomness, Free Will, and Responsibility
Luís Cabral - IESE Business School
Are the Laws of Economics Compatible with Free Will? Bob Doyle - Harvard University
The Two-Stage Solution to the Problem of Free Will
Leonardo Fogassi (&
Giacomo Rizzolatti
) - University of Parma
The Mirror Mechanism as Neurophysiological Basis for Interpersonal Communication
Nicolas Gisin - Université de Genève
Are There Quantum Effects Coming from Outside Space-time? Nonlocality, Free Will and ”No Many-Worlds”
Sara L. González Andino - Université de Genève
On the Quest for Consciousness in Vegetative State Patients Through Electrical Neuroimaging
Martin Heisenberg - University of Würzburg
The Role of Objective Chance in the Brain and Behavior
Robert Kane - University of Texas
Can a Traditional Incompatibilist or Libertarian Free Will Be Made Consistent With Modern Science? Steps Toward a Positive Answer
Flavio Keller - Università Campus Bio-Medico Di Roma Contemporary Concepts of Motor Control: Is There a Place for Free Will?
Alfred Mele - Florida State University
Free Will and Neuroscience: Revisiting Libet's StudiesZeeya Merali - Freelance Science Writer
Are Humans the Only Free Agents in the Universe?
Jean Staune - Université Interdisciplinaire de Paris
Towards a Non-materialist Realism
Antoine Suarez - Center for Quantum Philosophy
Does Free Will Require New Physics? Russell Wilcox - Thomas More Institute (&
José Manuel Giménez Amaya - Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
Neuroscience and Freedom
Moderator:
Peter Adams - Thomas More Institute
Assistant:
Nicholas Teh - Cambridge University
View the presentation slides by following the links from each speaker's name.
Watch the presentations and discussions on
YouTube.
The resulting
book:
Is Science Compatible with Free Will? Exploring Free Will and Consciousness in Light of Quantum Physics and Neuroscience has been published by Springer.
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