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Free Will and Falling Cats

Classical Physics 2024-05-09 v1 History and Philosophy of Physics

Abstract

If we consider a cat to be an isolated mechanical system governed by T-invariant mechanics, then its ability to land on its feet after being released from rest is incomprehensible. It is more appropriate to treat the cat as a creature that can change its shape in order to accomplish a purpose. Within that framework we can construct a useful and informative of the observed motion. One can learn from this example.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2405.04565,
  title  = {Free Will and Falling Cats},
  author = {Frank Wilczek},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.04565},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

12 pages, 0 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-28T16:19:54.611Z