"Darren New" <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote in message
news:4b5f5a71$1@news.povray.org...
> Sabrina Kilian wrote:
> > Which means that 'I' still has free-will.
>
> I don't think they waved anything off at all. That's why I said you have
to
> ask what the words "free will" mean before you can discuss whether you
have
> it. I would think there are people who would say that the ability to
predict
> what choice you're going to make before you yourself even know what that
> choice is indicates a lack of free will.  *I* don't agree with that
stance,
> but that's because that isn't how I define free will.
>
> I thought the idea that someone else knows your decision significantly
> sooner than you do is a pretty strange idea.

Depends on what you mean by "know", but it's pretty common to predict other
people's decisions and reactions. The closer you are to a person and the
more you study him, the better you can predict his decisions, which means
his decision making process is complex, but understandable/predictable in
principle. But even that's small potatoes, people can actually *affect*
other's decisions and behaviour by giving them chemicals/drugs. Even before
trying to define "free will", which will be hopeless, we should define what
"I" is. Am I something completely isolated from my environment? If I drink
coffee or alcohol that will likely affect my decision making, do they become
part of me?

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