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From: daemon@mit-hermes.ARPA (The devil himself)
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: philosophy
Message-ID: <2446@mit-hermes.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 7-Aug-85 15:14:52 EDT
Article-I.D.: mit-herm.2446
Posted: Wed Aug  7 15:14:52 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 11-Aug-85 03:33:43 EDT
Organization: The MIT AI Lab, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 36

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References: <3484@decwrl.UUCP>

> What I was trying to demonstrate is how an unmeasurable influence can affect
> your behaviour.  This is a good example of a decision that has a high degree
> of freedom.

It's a very good example, because it pinpoints exactly where Rich Rosen and
his opponents have been clashing.  Rich would have us believe that there is no
such thing as "free" will because the brain, like anything else, is part of
the system of cause and effect; hence our decisions are caused, not free.  This-
is not really true, since our brains operate on a scale that can be affected
by random quantum events.

This probably isn't much consolation to the people (whether or not they are
represented on the net) who would like to believe in absolute autonomy of the
will, a will neither caused nor random.  It remains to be shown that the
absence of determinism means anything other than the presence of randomness.

Chris Roberson    
Calhoun College, Yale University
----
They collapsed....like nuns in the street....they had no teen appeal!