Chapter 13.                                               (continued) 

Unlike the Newtonian paradigm, the quantum one has opened up the possibility that we humans really can influence probabilities by skilfully executed action in the real world. The odds that the flap of a butterfly’s wing will cause a hurricane or a rockslide are extremely remote. The odds that I will not get hit by a rockslide if I hear a roaring and duck beneath an overhanging shelf of basalt are much better. I can react successfully to the unforeseen. The odds that a field in April, left alone, will be full of corn ripening by October are extremely remote. The odds are much higher that the same field will contain a harvestable corn crop if I seed it with corn in April and water and weed it for the next five months. Human knowledge and skill enable us to intervene in the flows of events around us. At present, we can’t stop the hurricane, but our computer models, when fed enough data, can tell us when we need to get out of the hurricane’s way if we want to have reasonable odds of going on with our lives.

   

                                                                                 Planaria 

The programming in life forms as humble as planaria enables them to swim to the side of the petri dish that is out of the direct light. They use their innate intelligence—their unique instincts—to improve their odds of survival by avoiding beams of light. How much more empowering is human programming? Thus, the quantum view of ourselves deeply resonates with our belief in the free will that directs our daily actions.

We are, within human limits, free. We can perform actions that alter the odds of some possible futures happening. We learn, think, and act to increase the odds of our experiencing futures that will support our survival, health, and comfort, and decrease the odds of our experiencing futures that will lead us to pain, injury, and death. We think, learn, and act in ways that make it more likely that we will keep being able to to think, learn, and act. This is the nature of human freedom, and the lesser degrees of freedom in other life forms.

                    Scrooge on his own grave begs for a chance to return to life and mend his ways

                                                     (Alastair Sim in the 1951 film A Christmas Carol)