Free Will as an Emergent Property of Intelligent Life

Free will is a question that has interested scientists and philosophers for centuries. It is a staple of discussion in some academic fields and is a lively topic in the popular press and social media. In the present paper, I present a simple argument for free will as an emergent property of intelligent life. In short, the consensus view in physics is that quantum mechanics is inherently probabilistic and processes such as radioactive decay are truly random. Following this, there are quantum random number generators that can be used to inform probabilistic decision making in computers, and in ourselves if we desire. A conditional decision (I will do x with 90% probability) that references a quantum number generator is not deterministic and the future that follows is therefore not determined. To put it into the context of the famous thought experiment, if one could go back in time and redo such decisions, they would not stay the same. The ability to link randomness in the quantum realm to conditional probabilistic action at the macroscopic level is argued to be one of the many cases of radical emergences that must proceed from the evolution of intelligent life with significant technological advancement.