The only way free will can work is if the Many worlds therom of quantum mechanics is true, and each conscious derision results in a new universe. And quantum mechanics means that most of these decisions are being made by particles, with life forms being pretentious bundles.
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Well, if we stop chauvinistically assuming that the "Observer" of quantum mechanics must be a human, then the logical conclusion is that a particle is "observed" whenever it interacts with another particle, and that free will is an inherent property to all matter.
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What we perceive as choices are simply the consensus of an uncountable number of sub atomic particles which chose which way to bounce when they interact with each other.
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Have you considered emergent theory? I.e. particles aren't conscious but big collections of them can be
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The problem is when exactly you draw the line. We still haven't defined consciousness in a useful way. The Animist solution is that there is no dividing line, and that particles or rocks or animals are just different degrees of conscious.
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Emergence actually does have measurable thresholds, though. Consider surface tension of liquids, freezing/boiling points, etc
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I do agree there's prolly a spectrum of consciousness but it's completely possible there are seemingly arbitrary cutoff points
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Emergence would also imply that multiple routes could lead to consciousness via convergent evolution.
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(as in, more than just biochemistry)
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but either i missed the point completely or everybody described in the Reception section did
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