From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!mips!darwin.sura.net!Sirius.dfn.de!math.fu-berlin.de!news.netmbx.de!Germany.EU.net!mcsun!uknet!edcastle!fofp Mon Aug 24 15:41:26 EDT 1992
Article 6664 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Path: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!mips!darwin.sura.net!Sirius.dfn.de!math.fu-berlin.de!news.netmbx.de!Germany.EU.net!mcsun!uknet!edcastle!fofp
>From: fofp@castle.ed.ac.uk (M Holmes)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Freewill, chaos and digital systems
Message-ID: <25048@castle.ed.ac.uk>
Date: 20 Aug 92 15:01:05 GMT
References: <Bt4xt1.MA0.1@cs.cmu.edu> <1992Aug19.210204.29868@mp.cs.niu.edu>
Organization: Edinburgh University
Lines: 30

rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) writes:

[brief summary:

You voted A at an election and if you have Free Will you could have
voted for B. Realistically though, your principles anyways actually
prevented you votinmg for B. So you couldn't really have voted for B.
Did you still have Free Will?

]


>Now think for a moment about what those principles might be.  They are
>not something mystical or etherial.  The principles consist of
>something which is encoded in your brain.  This physical substance
>which represents your principles is part of the universe, and is part
>of what determines your action.  So, yes, you decision on how to vote
>was indeed predetermined.  But it was not a sham; your reasoning was
>not a charade.  The physical conditions which predetermined your vote
>was that physical substance in your brain which represents your
>principles.  Your reasoning was completely correct.  It was your
>principles, or their physical embodiment, which determined your vote.

Ah, yes. This is good as far as it goes, *but* did you have a choice in
garnering those principles? If the principles made the decision then
does Free Will only exists if *you chose* those principles?

Just a thought :-)

FoFP


