----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, July 21, 2002 7:51 PM Subject: Re: Atheism Re: CD's
>In a message dated 7/21/2002 4:09:17 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: >If free will can't be measured by a repeatable experiment, then it need >not be a part of any scientific theory. >The problem with free will as I see it is that it requires that causality be violated. It is either free (that is in >some way uncaused) or if it is caused (even if we don't know or can't predict what those causes are) it >isn't free. But, this can be hidden within the quantum indetermancy. For example, what causes an electron to have spin up instead of spin down when measured? There is a cause for it to go from a superposition to an eigenstate, but no cause for it to be in any particular state. One could argue the same for human decisions. Given all the knowledge one could theoretically have, one could see that a person would make a decision (including a decison not to make a decision), but the outcome of the decision is indeterminate. So, a person accessing the Cartesian awareness that Richard speaks of, fills in the blanks of this indetermancy, relying on his sense of self. It is perfectly consistant with the science involved. The real jump, IMHO, is to accept the existance of an unseen awareness. We see brain activity that corresponds to awareness, but we never see someone else's awareness. Dan M.
