Free Will with Afterthoughts : A Quasichemical Model

Abstract EN

A model of free will is proposed, appealing to the similarity with simple, two-body chemical reactions where the energy curves for the reagents and for the products cross.

The system at the crossing point has a freedom of choice to perform the reaction or not.

The Landau-Zener formula, corresponding to the opportunity of meeting twice the crossing point, is interpreted as free will with an afterthought and generalized to the cases when a subject thinks about a choice n times.

If the probability distribution pn of afterthoughts is known, the probability of a final yes decision is given.

The results are generalized to situations where a preference for or against a change exists or where the freedom is only partial, has to fight with conditioning factors, and possibly decreases with increasing instances of free choice.