Member-only story
New Year’s Resolutions, Free Will, and Quantum Physics
Today is January 1, 2025. It’s not only the day we vow — yet again — to exercise more, eat better, and finally learn that second language. It’s also the official start of UNESCO’s International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Exactly one hundred years have passed since quantum mechanics was formulated, forever changing our understanding of reality.
Yet, when we resolve to get fit, we don’t seem to be invoking anything quantum. But what if I told you quantum physics is what grants you the freedom to make that choice?
For the sake of argument, let’s say your New Year’s resolution is to get fit in 2025. It feels like the ultimate expression of your free will — you made a deliberate decision to set this goal, to craft a plan, to imagine a future where you become a healthier version of yourself. The pure act of making a resolution seems to embody your agency.
But how does that resolution actually work in practice?
What you’ve done is create a mental model of yourself — a fictitious narrative about a world where you take specific actions, like hitting the gym, eating better, and sticking to a schedule, all of which are supposed to lead to the desired effect. Within this framework, everything is clear — causes lead to effects, actions yield results.