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We've yet to clearly define what consciousness is or an agreed test. But we absolutely believe we are conscious. Perhaps it's a useful idea. Even our decisio
by rustyhancock 9mo ago
We've yet to clearly define what consciousness is or an agreed test.
But we absolutely believe we are conscious.
Perhaps it's a useful idea.
Even our decision making as I understand it, from the functional MRIs we know our subjective perspective of how and why we made simple decisions is wildly inaccurate.
Obviously free will and feeling like you control your actions is hugely important for us. But in a physical sense free will does not exist.
- bitwize 9mo agoA lot of our language is like that. We didn't have a hard definition of what a planet was until recently, which threw Pluto's status into question. But we knew we lived on one. Something something Wittgenstein, something something semiotics.
- griffzhowl 9mo ago> in a physical sense free will does not exist There can be similar problems with having clear definitions of free will as there is for consciousness. For example, if I define free will as the capacity to formulate and evaluate various plans, and select one to implement, it seems compatible with physics.
- Kim_Bruning 9mo ago> But in a physical sense free will does not exist. I'd consider (deterministic) chaos to be pretty much free will anyway? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory [ Accidentally on purpose, time-loop stories like Groundhog Day almost perfectly illustrate this. Each time-loop people start out acting the same way: Deterministic, not random. But if the protagonist interacts with them (or the protagonist's actions ripple out), this changes the (initial) conditions, so people's behavior is no longer (as) predictable at all. Some of these stories even literally quote the butterfly effect. ]