On Apr 2, 5:05 pm, meekerdb <[email protected]> wrote:
> > But the experiment didn't show there was more or less free will. It didn't > even show > there was any free will. It just showed that inducing a belief in free will > changed > performance. Performance in what though? Readiness to execute personal will. >It might have also shown that belief in alien abductions changed > performance. No, they did controls to eliminate that. There may be other beliefs that change people's ability to take action as well, but this study suggests that this specific idea that we should doubt the existence of our own free will has a negative impact on the very thing that is being considered. > Either one is perfectly consistent with determinism. No, determinism would not allow a mention of a deterministic function of the brain to affect the performance of that function, because then it wouldn't be deterministic - it would be open to suggestion by others and by ourselves. If I can suggest beliefs to myself that causally affect the performance of anything at all, then I am using free will to determine their function rather than only being determined by them. The whole idea of convincing yourself of something or building confidence doesn't make sense if we were only passive spectators in our own minds. 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.
