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I think the question of free will is irrelevant from the perspective of a government. The relevant question is whether a government can modify the behaviors of
by stametseater 4y ago
I think the question of free will is irrelevant from the perspective of a government. The relevant question is whether a government can modify the behaviors of people by manipulating systems of incentives and punishments. This can be empirically tested, and the answer is clearly yes. All governments on every corner of the world do it in one form or another.
If there are no punishments for not paying taxes, then few will pay. If there are harsh punishments, then most will pay. This is common sense. Whether or not a thing called 'free will' plays a roll simply doesn't matter.
- mistermann 4y ago> If there are no punishments for not paying taxes, then few will pay. If there are harsh punishments, then most will pay. This is common sense. Whether or not a thing called 'free will' plays a roll simply doesn't matter. What about edge cases? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski And if one node can defect from the system default programming, might it be possible that others can as well?
- stametseater 4y ago> What about edge cases? What about them? You tell me, you're the one who evidently thinks they're relevant.
- mistermann 4y agoThey may affect the degree to which youtmr theory is true. Also, they may not be a constant over time, like in physics, so your intuition may be misleading.