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From: verma@hpscad.dec.com (Virendra Verma, DTN 297-5510, MRO1-3/E99)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: RE: Free Will & Self-Awareness
Message-ID: <8805101344.AA10463@decwrl.dec.com>
Date: 10 May 88 13:44:44 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 37

>Consider a vending machine that for $.50 vends pepsi, coke or oj. After
>inserting the money you make a selection and get it. You are happy.
 
>Now consider a vending machine that has choices pepsi, coke and oj, but
>always gives you only oj for $.50. After inserting the money you make
>a selection, but irrespective of your selection you get oj. You may feel
>cheated.
 
>Thus, the willed result through exercise of freedom of choice may not be
>related to the actual result. The basic question of freewill is - 
>"Is it enough to maintain an illusion of freedom of choice, or should
>the willed results be made effective?". The latter, I suppose.
 
>Further consider the first (good) vending machine. While it was being
>built, the designer really had 5 brands, but chose (freely, for whatever
>reasons) to vend only the three mentioned. As long as I (as a user of the 
>vending machine) don't know of my unavailable choice space, I have the
>illusion of a full freedom of choice. This is where awareness comes in.
>Awareness expands my choices, or equivalently, lack of awareness creates
>an illusion of freewill (since you cannot choose that which you do not
>know of). Note that the designer of the vending machine controls the 
>freewill of the user. 
 
>Akash

	It seems to me that you are mixing "free will" and "outcome". I think
	"free will" is probabilitically related to the "outcome". Isn't the
	essence of "law of karma" when Krashna mentions that you are free
	to exercise your will (i.e., the act of doing something which is
	karma element, "insertion of coins" is an act of free will in your
	example"). You have no control over the "results" element of your
	free will? The "awareness" element simply improves the probablity 
	of the "outcome". Even in your first example with good machine, you 
	may not get what you want because there may be a power failure 
	right after you insert the coin!!

	- Virendra