Teleodynamic Emergence Signals Free Will

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Abstract

As science uncovers causes for physical and psychological events that mystified us, we reasonably extrapolate that all events have causes, using Newtonian assumptions. This lends credence to mechanical determinism, especially since—in neuroscience—psychological events are physical events. However, the newer science of chaos and complexity, which is the science of emergence, offers a solid alternative. Complex emergent systems oppose “smallism”—they are not reducible to a simple sum of their causes. Complex systems in the real world are subject to nonlinear dynamics and add up to something qualitatively different from their parts. Consciousness and free will are the effects of a complex emergent system which we call mind, and are “worth added” emergent features of the brain, not reducible to simple linear causation. Mind is capable of modeling, and in fact, all understanding of reality is “model dependent.” Conscious modeling affects the physical brain in a cyclical process which introduces genuinely teleodynamic, or intentional, emergence. We possess free will to the extent that these teleodynamic processes are capable of anticipating and altering realities.