On Apr 3, 5:27 am, 1Z <[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. > > Nothing in the experiment indicates the will was free in a > philosophical > sense, just the usual scientific sense of volition, ie conscious > control > or control by higher brain centres.
Right. I don't even look at the philosophy of how free is free - any experience of will is unexplainable in a deterministic universe. > > > >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. > > One deterministic process can affect another. Think of dropping a > clock > of a tall building. That's a straw man of the findings. What the experiment shows would be like dropping a clock off of a tall building and seeing that it falls faster than 32ft/sec/sec if you tell it that it's doomed to fall, slower than 32ft/sec/sec if you tell it that it can control the speed of its fall, and exactly 32ft/sec/sec if you tell it unrelated things. 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.
