Recently, I followed a discussion about free will. The starting point was the question whether a million exact clones which are placed in the same situations would shows the same behavior and whether they would diverge over time.
My stance is that they would behave identical in the beginning but, subject to quantum physics, small differences would creep in. Big things like hair color or beliefs would be very stable. A complex decision, which could go either way, might be influenced by the fact that a molecule binds a few nanoseconds later than in another clone. The neuron would fire slightly later than the other ones and a different option would be chosen.
Which made me remember Conway’s Game of Life. Life has been shown to be Turing complete – you can construct machines which can compute anything that can be computed.
Now which change to Life would bring it to the next level? Make it able to compute more than Turing?
If there is no metaphysical soul, no God-induced immortal energy in us, then our ability to comprehend must come from the physical body that we have. If neurons are small switches that trigger other switches when enough inputs agree, then where does comprehension – which simple computers certainly lack – come from?
Maybe the solution is that our neurons have a random component – quantum physics. Maybe the solution is a version of Life where survival with more than three neighbors isn’t impossible – just unlikely? Where cells can come to life from nothing by pure (small) chance?
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