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Brian Greene

“Responsibility has a role too. Even though my particles, and hence my behaviors, are under the full jurisdiction of physical law, “I” am in a very literal if unfamiliar way responsible for my actions. At any given moment, I am my collection of particles; “I” is nothing but a shorthand that signifies my specific particulate configuration (which, although dynamic, maintains sufficiently stable patterns to provide a consistent sense of personal identity45). Accordingly, the behavior of my particles is my behavior. That physics underlies this behavior through its control of my particles is surely interesting. That such behavior is not freely willed is worthy of acknowledgment. But these observations do not diminish the higher-level description which recognizes that my specific particle configuration—the way my particles are arranged into an intricate chemical and biological network including genes, proteins, cells, neurons, synaptic connections, and so on—responds in a manner that is unique to me. You and I speak differently, act differently, respond differently, and think differently because our particles are arranged differently. As my particle arrangement learns and thinks and synthesizes and interacts and responds, it imprints my individuality and stamps my responsibility on every action I take.”

Brian Greene, Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe
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