On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 10:40:51PM -0600, Jason Resch wrote: > On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 6:33 PM, Russell Standish > <[email protected]>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 [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.
