1.Freedom in biology: Selectingtherightactionattheright time
Bjrn Brembs
Freie Universitt Berlin
http://brembs.net

2. Free Will does not exist
3. CartesianDualism
4. Interactionism
5. Dualism
Noempiricalsupport
6. Reductionism
Mental states are always brain states, meaning physical states
Hans Flohr, neurobiologist
7. 8. Behavioral Freedom
We could often have done otherwise than we in fact did
Searle 1984
9. Behavioral Freedom
I could have done otherwise
Taylor & Dennett 2002
10. Behavioral Freedom
If we choose to remain at rest, we may; if we choose to move, we also may.
David Hume
11. Behavioral Freedom?
12. Behavioral Freedom?
13. Behavioral Freedom?
14. Behavioral Freedom?
15. Evitability
The freedom of the will consists in the impossibility of knowing actions that still lie in the future.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
16. Evitability
Behavioral freedom is always situational!
17. DrosophilaTurningBehavior
28.09.2011
Bjrn Brembs, Freie Universitt Berlin
17
Behavioralvariability in a constantstimulussituation: actions, not responses!
18. DrosophilaTurningBehavior
28.09.2011
Bjrn Brembs, Freie Universitt Berlin
18
Behavioralvariability in a constantstimulussituation: actions, not responses!
19. Sakkade
Basislinie
DrosophilaTurningBehavior
20. Choice ornoise?
Decisionsornoise in a complexsystem?
21. Inter-Saccade-Intervals(ISIs)
Flies as random number generators?
All computations by Alexander Maye, UKE Hamburg (Maye et al. 2007)
Choice or Noise?
22. Choice or Noise?
Geometric Random Inner Products: GRIP
All computationsby Alexander Maye: Maye et al. (2007)
23. Choice or Noise?
24. Attractorof a non-linear system
25. 26. 27. Chance andNecessity!
28. Human Free Will
29. Spontaneity
Whataretheevolutionaryadvantagesofspontaneousbehavioralvariability?
30. Inevitability: C-Start Responses
31. The RisksofInevitability
32. Pursuit-evasioncontests& competition (courtship, predator-prey, territoriality, chess, sports etc.)
33. Exploration (find thathiddenresourceyouwouldotherwisenever find.)
34. General brainfunction
Action Outcome Evaluation
35. Many Brains
Scott E Page
Groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high-ability problem solvers
http://www.pnas.org/content/101/46/16385.long