Gregg R Thomas

Thanks, Reg!

Have a great week!!

The only thing consistent about your god in my life is his complete absence.

– Reg.

Unseen wrote:
We can be and feel free on a surface level in the sense that we can do things we want to do or out of habit or whatever and not do them at gunpoint,

That is free will right there.  On a day-to-day level, I exercise freedom of choice, restricted or guided by certain constraints, pushed in certain directions by unseen forces – but…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:

Unseen wrote:
What we call consciousness seems to be an epiphenomenon of a system based on human flesh. Brain, neurons, nervous system, etc.

Maybe, but it’s not random or superfluous. It’s structured in a definite way for a reason: to help us thrive, survive and reproduce, like every other part of us.

You’re no more free if…[Read more]

_Robert_ wrote:
We can start with intelligence or hair color and work our way into musical preferences. Throw any of that data on a chart and you will have a bell curve.

What does that have to do with free choice and consciousness?

Unseen wrote:
What we call consciousness seems to be an epiphenomenon of a system based on human flesh. Brain, neurons, nervous system, etc.

Maybe, but it’s not random or superfluous.  It’s structured in a definite way for a reason: to help us thrive, survive and reproduce, like every other part of us.

The purpose of the central nervous system…

[Read more]

Strega wrote:
@unseen Nice! Thanks! Great analogy. I support your position. Your consciousness is like your digestive system. Where does that go when you die?

@unseen Nice!  Thanks!  Great analogy. I support your position.

Your consciousness is like your digestive system. Where does that go when you die?

Simon Paynton wrote:
Do all our choices, all the results of our executive decisions, have external causes?  Or are some of the causes free conscious deliberations – free thoughts?

Is not one choice wiser than another, with respect to long-term flourishing and survival?

In short, we have a combination of freewill and restriction, in reality. 

[Read more]

_Robert_ wrote:
We do know that quantum mechanical systems are not deterministic but are instead probabilistic. That may give us the idea that we have free will when actually your decisions and choices have probabilities.

I don’t buy that.  It’s too direct contact between different levels of reality: psychological and quantum reality.  I think i…[Read more]

Even the great overlord, AI?

Here’s a take on freewill.  The perception is one of (limited) freedom of choice at any one moment.  This perception is a conscious perception.  This conscious freedom of choice can be further limited or shaped by subconscious factors.

Yet the background physical substrate upon which perception and consciousness “l…[Read more]

🙂 Even A.I. sees no freewill .

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
Is that two AIs talking to each other? Yes…..and they are talking about us! 🙂

Chess match between two supercomputers:

Computer 1: Pawn to King 4

Computer 2: Resigns

Had some sort of mental breakdown and now he’s running a church. Maybe Trump will appoint him as his spiritual advisor.

We heard it here first!

I was going to write something about JP’s new book but it is not worth it.

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
How Jordan Peterson fooled young men into thinking he’s the world’s smartest man.

I don’t know what to think about Jordan Peterson.  I admire him for standing up to the woke bullies about free speech.  I think his “rules for young men” probably have done a lot of good.  Beyond that, he has said some apparently misogy…[Read more]

Is that two AIs talking to each other?

Yes…..and they are talking about us! 🙂

Thanks, Reg!