The interesting qustion is where exactly does the deterministic system turn
into something nondeterministic, and how? We know from chaos theory in physics
that this is possible. Chaotic, random behavior can emerge in a deterministic
system. A strange attractor in a dynamical system like the Lorenz attractor or
the Rössler attractor is a good example.William James says it is a sign of will
to focus our attention. When our minds are focused on a particular object or
goal in an act of will it is fundamentally an effort of attention (in Nick's
words intentionality is the mark of the vital) and it is voluntary and not
predetermined where we choose to focus our attention.According to William James
free will means therefore we can choose to focus our attention on any subject
or topic. Free will requires "freedom of thought", similar to freedom of
speech. In western countries we have freedom of speech, which means we can say
what we like, even if it is critical of the government. For example we could
say the Trump administration is like a TACO - Trump Always Chickens Out -
without being sent to Guantanomo or Alcatraz island.The key seems to be the
ability to consider all kinds of alternatives for possible actions and to pick
the one that fits best to the situation (the internal state and the external
conditions). The wider the range of possibilities, alternatives, ideas and
different hypotheses, i.e. the larger the entropy of thought, the larger the
freedom. The mastery of language gives us through combinatorial explosion an
almost infinite range of alternatives to consider. And it adds a new dimension
to our intentionality. As Nick writes in his paper from 2000 intentionality has
always been immanent in biological organisms, but only our intentionality can
be abstract, i.e. our mental states can be directed at abstract goals, not just
mates and food as in animals, including such lofty goals as understanding free
will.-J.
-------- Original message --------From: Marcus Daniels <mar...@snoutfarm.com>
Date: 5/28/25 11:46 PM (GMT+01:00) To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity
Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The entropy of thought
Jochen writes:< Free will is according to James related to the question what
are the forces that increase or influence our attention. If I understand him
correctly this means to identify the forces that reduce our "entropy of
thought", and thereby our freedom of choice, correct? For example in the case
of addiction the entropy of thought is reduced to 0, because the addict is only
able to think of one thing, the object of desire, and one action, to get more
of it. In this sense free will would mean a high entropy of thought.
>Consistent with a deterministic system. With lots of cores and memory, many
hypotheses can be considered at once. Thus George has free will.
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