On Mon, Sep 30, 2013 at 02:03:15PM +1300, LizR wrote: > On 30 September 2013 13:58, Russell Standish <[email protected]> wrote: > > > The reason it doesn't make the will a slave to randomness, is that the > > will is random in its essence. There is no self-other distinction > > between the will and the random source. > > > > I don't see this. The random source here is the laws of physics, surely? So > unless you identify your will with physical law, the self-other distinction > is merely hidden - the source of your random decision lies inside the > evolution of the state vector, or whatever it is. >
I'm complete missing your point here??? The self-other distinction is a 1p thing, not part of physics at all. There are no persons in physics. Even when talking about the self-other distinction in (say) bacteria, it is our modelling that makes the bacteria a distinct system from its environment. Physical interactions reach through the system boundary as though it weren't there. What does it mean for the self-other distinction to be hidden? It is most definitely visible in the 1p view. Also, the evolution of the state vector is unitary and deterministic, not random. > But I admit I'm still reading through the paper, so I may change my views > once I manage to do so. I've almost reached section 3, at which point I am > hoping to discover why it's called "Knightian" randomness - I'm hoping it > has something to do with Knights and Knaves! :D > Hah! Sadly, no. It is named after Frank Knight, who wrote about the concept in the 1920s. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected] University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
