Comic #2055: 2010-12-29

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Description

Here is the transcription of the comic:

Panel 1: "There can't be free will. If every moment is just the ultimate product of an earlier state, human choice makes no sense."

Panel 2: "But wait. Say you had a computer that knew all the conditions of a man's environment, and predicted he'd eat an apple. Could he then read the prediction, then choose an orange?"

Panel 3: "AGH! NO! The computer is part of the observed system too! It'd have to simulate every atom of the system itself to predict the future, which would require it to be bigger than itself!"

Panel 4: "Wait, wait! If you have a quantum computer, each quantum bit can symbolize three states, so maybe it could simulate a system bigger than itself?"

Panel 5: "Unless the apparatus to make predictions via symbols required the computer to be larger than the system in question."

Panel 6: "Oh God! Free will is a lie! It's just a result of the initial parameters of—"

Panel 7: "Oh, Steve!"

Panel 8: "What gives you such amazing stamina?"

Panel 9: "The boundary conditions of the universe."