On Wednesday, March 20, 2013 11:42:38 PM UTC-4, stathisp wrote: > > On Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 12:53 PM, Craig Weinberg > <[email protected]<javascript:>> > wrote: > > >> At least you now agree that the atoms in my body could be replaced and > >> I would feel the same. What if the atoms were replaced by a person: > >> would I still have free will or would I, as you claim for a computer, > >> only have the will of the programmer? > > > > > > What do you mean by replacing the atoms with a person? Like the China > Brain? > > Quintillions of human beings each pretending to act like hydrogen? That > > wouldn't work, although you might be able to model chemistry that way. > > No, I meant if a person did the replacing of the atoms in my body. I > would then have been created and programmed by that person. Would I > still have free will? Would I think I had free will? > > No, it doesn't matter who does the programming/creating. I think what makes the difference is only whether the development is self-directed or not. Only something which discovers its own way of growing and learning would be able to recover the higher qualities of human-like free will. We can even see this in human society - heavy indoctrination and 'schooling' tends to shape individuals away from discovering their capacities for freedom. If someone has the capacity for free will inherently, then you might be able to encourage that institutionally, but it seems unlikely to be very successful in that aim overall.
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