I have been laboring to create a comprehensive unified theory of free will that reinterprets traditional theories of physical causality. Earlier today I had an insight of practical application that I think would quickly end terrorism. I am writing about that here.
The fundamental premises of my paper are that:
1) We live in a participatory universe, a universe which requires cognitive observers like ourselves who resolve questions of quantum superposition (as in the case of the famous "Schrodinger's Cat" thought experiment). This means that a great deal of ethical study and moral responsibility is essential to what it is for a human to live "the good life". Because we are agents who consciously form intentions, we have a great deal of responsibility derived from our power interpreting what goes on in the universe.
2) Physical causality itself is subject to a sort of anthropic principle; that is, humans are like dream machines. Our intentions manifest results according to our wills. This is one reason why good wills are in a sense the only good. Good wills take good as their essential component; good results that occur as a consequence of good will are in a fundamental way of greater significance than good results that might sometimes occur as a consequence of a malicious will - no matter how strongly the malicious will intends to claim good results.
Many humans, especially those that respect the autonomy of liberty of others are often confused as to their own status as causative agents. The unfolding of good intentions preserves the freedom of others all good minds. But everything has a mind, from plants, to animals and rocks, humans and even computers. The real manifestation of my good will is often seen only after filtering through all the other minds who exist in my universe. This means that my good will often manifests in ways I don't recognize although it is my will that had as its result this good consequence.
3) Causality actually takes as its origin the singularity at the beginning of the universe. This is an interesting idea I had some years ago but realized an essential implication only today.
The singularities at the center of black holes actually correspond exactly to the singularity that kicked off the real universe with what we call the big bang.
Before you dismiss this claim out of hand, consider the following major concern about the general theory of relativity. The theory of relativity implies that nothing, not even information can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. The speed of light is the upper bound on information transfer. BUT, we live in a participatory universe, and this boundary to information transfer implies what appears to be a contradiction. If we situate three agents in a triangle, with a hypotenuse AC and a right angle at vertex B, then the distance ABC is farther than the distance AC.
Then if the speed of light is a constant, the universe of each agent A, B, C is discontinuous from all agents not equidistant from itself. The problem is that if the universe is participatory then each agent is in some sense existing in an independent realm of causality. Each agent is deciding, determining important facts about the universe. But the agents are not cotemporal in relativity's account, and this means crashes occur.
While I don't have time to explain all the implications of this right now, one that struck me as of great significance is that black holes are essentially interesting and confusing points of inversion that resolve discontinuities in the spatial universe. Basically black holes are causality tunnels that resolve problems of continuity among causal agents.
There is certainly a lot more that could be said about this, especially as it might relate to what we call wormholes. I hope to say more about this later either here or in some academic publication.
"OK" Computer
Finally I would like to venture an interpretation with what I feel is practical and spiritual significance. An insight I had about string theory was that if humans are causal agents capable of resolving quantum events, then quantum level phenomena are perceptible in a variety of ways. Hindu Yogi get a lot of flak for Yogic Meditation wherein they are accused of staring into a visualizer "for all eternity" (and of not doing any work).
But this is not precisely the case. In fact, and this is in my opinion very important, quantum level phenomena that are resolved via a special form of perception, are almost certainly what these Yogi are visualizing as they practice meditation. Through transformative processes the Yogi are capable of immediate experience of quantum-level phenomena, visualizing them with great accuracy despite not using the traditional equipment of Western empiricism.
Essentially the Yogi are exercising what can only be called a good will to resolve quantum-level phenomena which exist in superposition until perceived by a cognizing observer. Despite decreasing popularity in recent years, it is my evaluation that this is a very important job, and that the Yogi despite being the subjects of intense scrutiny may be our best defense against malevolent "supersymmetric strings" (essentially reality code) generated by the malicious wills that are the causal forces behind such serious concerns as terrorism which we observe in the macroscopic universe but which probably in large part stem from quantum-level events translated according to what we call the laws of physics.