Irrational number? Are 'angels' rational? if not you cannot count them anyway. JM
On Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 9:59 PM, LizR <[email protected]> wrote: > 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. > -- 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.
