tom sarbeck

Unseen wrote:
Proponents of the preconscious will say that it has access to plans and strategies and tactics you’ve worked out in advance which it uses, though you become consciously aware of the implementation shortly afterward. It’s as if a mind inside your mind is handing you slips of paper telling you what to do next.

Drat, well stated. I’l…[Read more]

Unseen I have reached my limit of patience with you mischaracterising me as a free will believer. I cannot count the amount of times I have specifically and clearly stated that I do not claim that free will exists. If you continue to do that I will permanently cease all further discussions with you about free will. Please stop it.

Instead of…[Read more]

I’vy that definition is so broad that even cats have free will. Do you think cats have free will?

I never said quantum effects explain free will. I like how you keep trying to frame my position as though I stand by free will existing or not. I don’t. You…actually…are the only person who has taken a hard position on the topic. And the sum of your argument is: I just don’t see how it’s possible (that and a propensity for visiting sites and…[Read more]

I guess I just laugh because I think y’all are way over complicating this LOL…

So what’s your definition of free will Ivy?

What are you talking about unseen. If it cannot even be predicted when a radioactive element will decay then how could you possible predict a coin toss 1000 years in the future even if you know the current state of every particle?

So is consciousness always relegated to the back seat, while only the unconscious mind drives Me and informs my consciousness of its decisions? (I’m only using the word unconscious because that’s the word used by the neurologist in her presentation. Preconscious would work fine for me, too.)

Even if an unconscious decision is made before my…[Read more]

Davis wrote:
free will infers conditions in which an agent is morally responsible for their decisions

Yeah, I think that’s a reasonable definition, and would be useful to discuss. Conversely, a deficiency of free will could infer (say) sufficient reason to not hold someone morally responsible for an action, as we’ve seen in some behavioral…[Read more]

A youtube video yet again. And with Tyson discussing something outside of his field of expertise. Great.

Yeah Pope there have been quite a few that are worthwhile. The only one I think that is reducible to something easily discussed without delving rather deeply into it is:

free will infers conditions in which an agent is morally responsible for their decisions

Davis wrote:
Yeah but you have to actually read works on free will (beyond something of encyclopedic, youtube or magazine article nature to get to a working definition). Plenty of philosophers have given more than reasonable definitions.

OK, so have you landed on one reasonable definition?

You don’t need to answer that. I’m mainly interested in…[Read more]

I still have not seen a satisfactory definition of free will

Yeah but you have to actually read works on free will (beyond something of encyclopedic, youtube or magazine article nature to get to a working definition). Plenty of philosophers have given more than reasonable definitions.

TJ wrote:
Wasting time trying to prove that a made up concept is not relevant to reality, is not productive though.

LOL, I conclude the same! Except I still consider that difficulty in itself to conduct productive discussions is, in itself, an interesting problem to try to solve, with hundreds if not thousands of years of rather unhelpful legacy.…[Read more]

In any event there is no evidence for “thoughts” without matter and energy so our will…will always be bounded.

Indeed this is quite similar to what Reg is saying. We are bound by the choices available and the structures that allow certain choices and only those choices (whether we actually get a say in that choice or not). Our choice is bound…[Read more]

This is not quite on topic, but I want to bump this topic up for review anyway.

I highly recommend you watch the new, mixed science and science fiction series at Netflix, Alien Worlds. It’s an awesome presentation of both how evolution works on Earth, and how evolution might work on other planets!

Season 1 has four episodes (see below), and I…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
Also, you need an additional term to “conscious” and “subconscious,” namely “preconscious.” This is because we know that conscious decisions are made before we are aware of them.

Certainly preconsciousness must be helping us consciously understand how we’re acting… the preconscious (and even lower processes) has been working out…[Read more]

Daniel Dennet has argued over the methodology of the experiment, especially over the methods use to determine when an agent is aware of a decision which was based on several assumptions

Raymond Tallis (a neuro surgeon) with the overly broad application of the results of the experiment (reducing a decision down to one single moment with one…[Read more]

That is a grossly broad interpretation of a set of experiments which have been highly critiqued by neuroscientists.