4 ms·

>call it free if the choice is not computable in advance Is it not essentially equivalent to "actual" free will? I am perfectly happy with just this.

• danbruc 5y ago
  You are free to call this free will, I would not. For a good hash function there is no way of predicting the output for a given input besides executing the hash function. But I don't see why I would call the output free. If there is no better way to figure out what you will do than letting your brain go through its internal calculations, fine, your behavior is unpredictable, but how is it free?
  • syki 5y ago
    Your points are well stated and succinctly out. They’ve made me think about this issue more than I ever have. It’s not a question I’ve ever been interested in but I like the reasoning you are giving. The first sentence above though helps to illustrate a problem when thinking about this stuff. You wrote, You are free to…. From your perspective no one has that freedom but our everyday experience is such that it’s hard to really follow through with this belief. Perhaps consciousness and self awareness comes at a cost of not being able to fully embrace the notion that we don’t have free will. It certainly feels like I have exercised free will but that is likely just an illusion.
    • danbruc 5y ago
      I also behave and talk all day long as if we have free will, it's just a useful abstraction. But my world view will not shatter if someone puts me into an MRI machine and tells me what I will choose for dinner later that day.