Sara Imari Walker

But our standard theories in physics can't explain life.

They can't explain mind.

And free will lives in the space of whatever physics describes life and mind.

It doesn't live in the physics of gravitation or the physics of quantum particles.

Those are totally different areas of physical reality that have nothing to do with you as an evolved structure over four billion years that now has agency in the universe.

Right.

You're a different component of physical reality than those theories are describing.

And I think we have a tendency to think physics is complete.

We have done this throughout the history of physics.

It's like every century they think the last century did it.

We understand reality now.

It's like every century has a new description.

I will never forget bouncing between my classes as an undergrad physics student.

And how many times I was told, like, you know, it's like it's really comical at the end of the 1800s that they thought physics was complete.

And like then there was general relativity and quantum mechanics.

This is so funny.

But it's like I go in a physics department and we're talking about this and I'm like, we don't need new physics for life.

Like physics is already done.

Like we have the standard model.

And I'm just like, are you not like understanding the dichotomy here between what we teach like students and like how we talk about where we are now in history?