On Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 01:41:08AM -0600, Jason Resch wrote: > > > On Jan 19, 2014, at 12:04 AM, Russell Standish > <[email protected]> wrote: > > >On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 10:38:28PM -0600, Jason Resch wrote: > >>Russell, > >> > >>What are your thoughts regarding > >>compatibilism<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compatibilism>? > >>Do you consider it a cop-out? > >> > >>Jason > >> > > > >I think it largely irrelevant, as it is clear we don't live in a > >deterministic world. > > If many worlds is true, then the equations we obey are > deterministic. We just iterate deterministically over all the > possible outcomes. If this is the case, then I think compatibilism > once again becomes relevant. > > Also, if minds are implemented above the level where quantum > randomness plays a major factor then again determinism in the > context of decision making becomes relevant. > > How do you define free will? Do you think it is something that would > be impossible within a fully deterministic universe? > > Thanks, > > Jason >
Its the ability to do something stupid, ie take the nonrational course. This could be achieved in a deterministic world, I suppose, using a pseudo RNG, but unless it is cryptographically strong, there is little point. But in any case, we do not live in a deterministic world (its true that we live in a deterministic multiverse, but the individual worlds are not), so we have genuine randomness to exploit for free will, creativity and so on. Cheers -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.
