When I was younger, this was why I would read all sorts of lightweight books on quantum mechanics. I hated the idea of a mechanistic universe, as it did not seem to allow for the possibility of choice. Quantum mechanics offered a way out in its apparent "randomness" (albeit vaguely and rather strangely).
In fact, not so long ago I was debating with someone, defending the existence of free will along these lines (of course more informally and intuitively, as I am not a physicist). It's nice to see more informed people making the argument.
The common mistake the opposition makes is that the complement of "determinism" is "randomness". In fact, the complement of "determinism" is "non-determinism", of which "randomness" is only one possibility; ostensibly "free-will" is another.
I thought the same thing! I came to the conclusion a while ago that if free will exists, it must originate from someplace outside of Newtonian physics or our current understanding of chemistry.
When I was younger, this was why I would read all sorts of lightweight books on quantum mechanics. I hated the idea of a mechanistic universe, as it did not seem to allow for the possibility of choice. Quantum mechanics offered a way out in its apparent "randomness" (albeit vaguely and rather strangely).
In fact, not so long ago I was debating with someone, defending the existence of free will along these lines (of course more informally and intuitively, as I am not a physicist). It's nice to see more informed people making the argument.