[Craig] I was hoping that other MOQers would jump in here. Maybe they've all been through this before. Or maybe they're letting us stew in our own juices. If (a) touching a hot stove & backing away is following Dynamic Quality & (b) calculating whether one can escape through a burning room is being controlled by static patterns, I can't see why (a) is an instance of free will but not (b).
[Case] You got me. I would think there was more free will involved in (b) than (a). Touching anything that causes pain is likely to trigger a reflex away from the source of pain. Escaping from a burning building might involve free will as far choice of exit routes goes but it is unlikely that an able bodied person would choose to sit and wait for the ashes to cool. [Craig] Perhaps, as you suggested, free will lies in the feedback mechanism. If we make a decision without deliberation, it is a result of whatever mix of influences & moods currently exist within us. But this decision is itself something new to consider that did not exist before. If in realizing what this decision is, we reconsider it, a different decision might be made. But if conditions C result in decision D1, why would C + D1 result in decision D2? [Case] One of the things we have learned over the past 30 years is that determinism does not mean predictive success. As the number of causal factors increases, knowledge of the final outcome of events decreases. So for example when I go to buy a new refrigerator the number of factors influencing my decision are myriad. By the time I get done looking at the options of color and cubic footage and energy star rating and warranty options I generally just buy on impulse. But once the decision is made and I am stuck with it buyer's remorse sets in and I wish I had bought the other one or I am delighted with the new features. Saying which factors most influence the purchase decision would be difficult in most cases and unless there is some overriding factor it is likely that if I repeated the process a different outcome might result. I think the difficult arises in determining what the causal factors actually are. moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
