{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T02:52:03Z","timestamp":1760237523127,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,19]],"date-time":"2020-05-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1589846400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009566","name":"Foundational Questions Institute","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["FQXi-MGB-1807","FQXi-RFP-IPW-1911"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FQXi-MGB-1807","FQXi-RFP-IPW-1911"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009566","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Entropy"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In this article, I develop a formal model of free will for complex systems based on emergent properties and adaptive selection. The model is based on a process ontology in which a free choice is a singular process that takes a system from one macrostate to another. I quantify the model by introducing a formal measure of the \u2018freedom\u2019 of a singular choice. The \u2018free will\u2019 of a system, then, is emergent from the aggregate freedom of the choice processes carried out by the system. The focus in this model is on the actual choices themselves viewed in the context of processes. That is, the nature of the system making the choices is not considered. Nevertheless, my model does not necessarily conflict with models that are based on internal properties of the system. Rather it takes a behavioral approach by focusing on the externalities of the choice process.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/e22050568","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,20]],"date-time":"2020-05-20T02:48:24Z","timestamp":1589942904000},"page":"568","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["A Formal Model for Adaptive Free Choice in Complex Systems"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2054-7551","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ian","family":"Durham","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics, Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH 03102, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Zalta, E.N. (2017). The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Argument in Quantum Theory. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. [Winter 2017 ed.]."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bell, J. (2004). Free variables and local causality. Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics, Cambridge University Press. [2nd ed.].","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511815676"},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"O\u2019Connor, T. (1995). Choice and Indeterminism. Agents, Causes, and Events: Essays on Indeterminism and Free Will, Oxford University Press."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"529","DOI":"10.1017\/S0140525X00044903","article-title":"Unconscious cerebral initiative and the role of conscious will in voluntary action","volume":"8","author":"Libet","year":"1985","journal-title":"Behav. 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[Fall 2017 ed.]."},{"key":"ref_13","first-page":"1","article-title":"A Deterministic Model of the Free Will Phenomenon","volume":"9","author":"Hadley","year":"2018","journal-title":"JCER"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Aguirre, A., Foster, B., and Merali, Z. (2018). God\u2019s Dice and Einstein\u2019s Solids. Wandering Towards a Goal: How Can Mindless Mathematical Laws Give Rise to Aims and Intention?, Springer. Frontiers Collection.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-75726-1"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ellis, G.F. (2016). How Can Physics Underlie the Mind?, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-662-49809-5"},{"key":"ref_16","first-page":"014013","article-title":"Determinism without causality","volume":"2014","author":"Manessi","year":"2014","journal-title":"Phys. Scr."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Schroeder, D.V. (2000). 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