On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 10:40:51PM -0600, Jason Resch wrote: > On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 6:33 PM, Russell Standish > <li...@hpcoders.com.au>wrote: > > > On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 04:08:08PM -0800, Edgar L. Owen wrote: > > > Russell, > > > > > > PS: On second thought maybe we don't agree completely. Though free will > > is > > > quantum random based (we agree on that), it doesn't mean that it is > > > "irrational". > > > > > > If human actions and the actions of other biological organisms weren't > > > basically rational they couldn't function or survive in the real actual > > > world they live in.... > > > > That is not true. Read up on the concept of Machiavellian > > Intelligence. A modicum of irrationality is just what it takes to get > > ahead in the world, it makes one less predictable to one's competitors. > > > > But to be "effectively unpredictible", one doesn't need a truly random > source, rather only a small number of bits that remain undisclosed to > outsiders. >
That is true, but the irrational/rational distinction doesn't lie in the same place as deterministic/indeterministic. Rational agents are entirely deterministic and predictable, but it is certainly possible to get deterministic irrational agents, and even as you argue, deterministic unpredictable agents. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders Visiting Professor of Mathematics hpco...@hpcoders.com.au 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 everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
