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never, we just develop an increasing capacity to use our rationality to provide internal emotional justifications for the actions we've already decided to take that is, questions of "free will" to me always boil down to: if I could rewind the entire state of the universe, and everything in it, to the exact state it was in when I made Some Decision, is there any nonzero chance I would make a Different Decision? I believe the answer is no, because I don't believe the decisions I make have an element of cosmic-pinball-randomness to them in the moment they are made, it's all about the leadup that set up that particular state of the universe and my body in it which determines the next form things will take. This isn't to say I "don't believe in free will". I believe I "make decisions of my own agency", it's just that put in the same situation (at a submolecular, whole-universe-state level) I'd always make the same decisions, so the question of what free will is or is not, is not that interesting to me. The Zelazny novella Home is the Hangman has any interesting aside about the difficulties of creating a molecular simulation of an entire universe in an effort to discern the future, IIRC. I think the obvious problem is that any machine which could accurately model any entire universe inherently requires slightly more energy than actually exists in that universe. Godel, Escher, Bach covers a lot of this, too. I was much more warm to that book's view of consciousness than anything loving Sam Harris has to say. Cabbages and VHS fucked around with this message at 16:27 on Oct 23, 2020 |
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Oct 23, 2020 16:21
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mobby_6kl posted:At conception, op. Ted Cruz re-reg found
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Oct 23, 2020 16:29
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Aramis posted:Godel, Escher, Bach is an interesting read, but I'm going to throw in a recommendation for figments of reality: The Evolution of the Curious Mind by Cohen and Stewart as a good layman-friendly introduction to the subject. haha, yeah, G.E.B. is a good intro for people who either already have or strongly desire a grounding in CS fundamentals. I will check out your rec, have not read. I have long fantasized that my dream job is running a curriculum that would use G.E.B. as a source for CS101 and CS102, and also have a optional enrichment side-path that would explore some of the same concepts through contemplative work (reflecting on Joshu's dog as a koan, etc).
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Oct 23, 2020 16:48
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