Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!nbires!ncar!ames!necntc!linus!mbunix!bwk From: bwk@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Barry W. Kort) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: Free Will & Self Awareness Message-ID: <31408@linus.UUCP> Date: 9 May 88 21:05:14 GMT References: <770@onion.cs.reading.ac.uk> <1177@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu> <1179@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu> <940@cresswell.quintus.UUCP> <1182@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu> Sender: news@linus.UUCP Reply-To: bwk@mbunix (Kort) Distribution: comp Organization: International Teleport & Telepath, Beantown, Mass. Lines: 19 Keywords: randomness responsibility Summary: Choosing Win-Win Perhaps it would help if I offered a straw proposal for invoking one's free will in a specific situation. Assume that I possess a value system which permits me to rank my personal preferences regarding the likely outcome of the courses of action open to me. Suppose, also, that I have a (possibly crude) estimate of your value system. If I were myopic (or maybe just stupid) I would choose my course of action to maximize my payoff without regard to you. But my knowledge of your value system creates an interesting opportunity for me. I can use my imagination to conceive a course of action which increases both of our utility functions. Free will empowers me to choose a Win-Win alternative. Without free will, I am predestined to engage in acts that hurt others. Since I disvalue hurting others, I thank God that I am endowed with free will. Is there a flaw in the above line of reasoning? If so, I would be grateful to someone for pointing it out to me. --Barry Kort