POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.off-topic : Is free choice an illusion? : Re: Is free choice an illusion? Server Time
5 Sep 2024 05:24:33 EDT (-0400)
  Re: Is free choice an illusion?  
From: Chambers
Date: 13 Sep 2009 13:16:53
Message: <4aad2905@news.povray.org>
Warp wrote:
>   There are only two possible conclusions we can make from this:
> 
> 1) The human mind does not transcend beyond the physical world, which means
> that free choice does not exist. Everything the human mind comes up with is
> predetermined by deterministic events, sometimes garbled by random quantum
> effects. This is not free choice.
> 
> 2) The human mind does transcend beyond the physical world as we know it,
> and is able to perform true choices which change deterministic chains of
> events in non-random ways. In other words, the human consciousness is more
> than just the electric impulses in our brain.

Actually, I've been thinking a lot about this lately, as I'm currently 
reading "Godel, Escher, Bach."  In particular, I'm in the section which 
deals with how completely ordered, formal, & logical systems can serve 
as a basis for (apparently) chaotic, fuzzy & random systems layered on 
top of them.

I'm left thinking that, if "free will" does transcend mere chemistry 
(ie, we are more than just moist robots), then I don't understand how it 
works.

Alternatively, if "free will" is an illusion, then it is a useful one, 
as it is the basis for many philosophies and, in fact, legal systems.

How's that for an answer? :)

...Chambers


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