On Mar 14, 10:44 am, Stathis Papaioannou <[email protected]> wrote: > On Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 9:00 AM, Craig Weinberg <[email protected]> wrote: > >http://pss.sagepub.com/content/22/5/613.abstract > > > Abstract > > > The feeling of being in control of one’s own actions is a > > strong subjective experience. However, discoveries in psychology and > > neuroscience challenge the validity of this experience and suggest > > that free will is just an illusion. This raises a question: What would > > happen if people started to disbelieve in free will? Previous research > > has shown that low control beliefs affect performance and motivation. > > Recently, it has been shown that undermining free-will beliefs > > influences social behavior. In the study reported here, we > > investigated whether undermining beliefs in free will affects brain > > correlates of voluntary motor preparation. Our results showed that the > > readiness potential was reduced in individuals induced to disbelieve > > in free will. This effect was evident more than 1 s before > > participants consciously decided to move, a finding that suggests that > > the manipulation influenced intentional actions at preconscious > > stages. Our findings indicate that abstract belief systems might have > > a much more fundamental effect than previously thought. > > > Has anyone posted this yet? Hard to explain what brain correlates are > > doing responding to an illusion... > > You might be able to show that people who believe in an afterlife are > more relaxed when faced with death. There are recognised neurological > correlates of relaxation. Would it thereby follow that there is in > fact an afterlife?
The concept of an afterlife is a perfectly reasonable thing to be able to imagine, since we are born and have a life, it is not a problem to imagine that we could continue to have a life even after this one ends. This is not the case with free will. Hypnotizing a computer to think it has 'free will' will not result in any changes in its processing, since for a computer there is no possible difference between voluntary action and automatic action. For us there is a tremendously significant and obvious difference. Craig -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
