Ah yes, that gives us another definition - the ability to do things that aren't optimal / rational. I knew there were more definitions lurking around, probably a lot of them!
(Plus we have yet to decide how many angels can dance on a pinhead. I'm in favour of an irrational number...) On 10 June 2014 13:42, Russell Standish <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tue, Jun 10, 2014 at 12:49:01PM +1200, LizR wrote: > > Depends what you mean by "free will". > > > > Reasoning based on past experience is one good definition (by which > > criterion a computer can have free will too, and without being > conscious). > > > > Another good definition is "first person unpredictability" (not knowing > > what you will do next). > > > > Presumably random noise in the brain will influence a random decision > (i.e. > > one where there is no reason to prefer one outcome over another). That > > appears to be what is happening in this experiment. I'm not sure if > > everyone would agree this is "free will". > > > > I don't everybody will ever agree about "free will". Whilst I don't > fully agree with JC that "free will" is a meaningless string of ASCII > characters, I would agree that a lot of "hot air" is generated about > free will. > > I personally don't think rationality makes for a good definition of free > will. A perfectly rational being is constrained to always choose the > optimal course of action. Such a will can hardly be "free". > > -- > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > 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 > > Latest project: The Amoeba's Secret > (http://www.hpcoders.com.au/AmoebasSecret.html) > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > -- > 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/d/optout. > -- 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/d/optout.
