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Article 6934 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: tim@giaeb.cc.monash.edu.au (Tim Roberts)
Subject: free will and  determinism
Message-ID: <tim.716618030@giaeb>
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Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1992 04:33:50 GMT
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It seems that the same points get debated every three or four weeks.

"Free will" and "determinism" are abstract concepts.  They depend upon the
point of view of the subject.  They are not opposites.

That is, from my standpoint I appear to have free will.  I make decisions
which affect my actions.  However, at a lower level those decisions are based
on the firing of neurons following some particular input, over which "I" have
no control.  From this level, then, my actions are already "predetermined".

I am not sure why some people get concerned over this.  It certainly doesn't
make life any less interesting !  I guess it would if I could magically
determine what my actions were going to be in advance, so to speak, but I
can't....


-- 
Tim S Roberts
School of Applied Science                 tel:     051-226467
Monash University (Gippsland)             fax:     051-221348
Switchback Road
Churchill                                 email:   tim@giaeb.cc.monash.edu.au
Victoria 3842
Australia


