I realize now from my response located here... http://www.scottfreethinking.com/2011/09/response-to-reader-what-is-freedom/ ...that I may have been a little misleading about what my actual 'argument' really is. No, I do not think that "potential" has a whole lot to do with freedom. Though I suppose considering such an argument might be an interesting idea. But supposing such a thing introduces a problem of certain threshold. That is, how do we know where to draw the line? Would every lifeform then have potential and therefore be free? It seems a little shaky to make such an argument.

Again, we could always make comparisons about our intelligence. We could philosophically propose a hypothetical thought experiment where aliens suddenly show up and demonstrate their massively more intelligent selves over what we believe "intelligent" to be. Their technology would likely look like magic to us since we would be so incapable of understanding it. Yeah, this is possible. At the least, I'd say there's a high probability that another species that is at least fairly equivalent to our level of intelligence probably exists somewhere in the universe.

There is still a lot of strangeness to consider. Certainly, we could probably say that knowledge is somehow connected to freedom but as I've already said: assuming this link exists then we are free, to a degree. But only to a degree. I also included in my response some of the implications of making an assumption that because we may not be free or may only be partially free that certain other things should exist under that conclusion.

While I'm not sure I fully understand your entire question, I might do the best I can to answer it or to go into more detail about what philosophical arguments could be made for freedom later on. But to answer part of what you're asking: animals are free (in one sense) but obviously limited in another just as we are free (to some degree) but could comparatively be vastly more restrained than some other hypothetical higher intelligence. While I'm tinkering with the idea that freedom should be at least somewhat connected to intelligence, I think I'm also sort of rejecting the idea that restraints or physical laws should necessarily interject the concept of freedom or freedom's existence.