(December 15, 2014 at 6:33 am)robvalue Wrote: Me too, I used to be a determinist. I came to that conclusion before doing any research in detail, before even knowing there was a term for what I thought.
I hadn't heard of quantum randomness. I'm not going to even pretend I understand it either. But I trust that it's a well established theory. Putting all my knowledge and logic together at this point leads me to believe that this randomness is all that determines choices. So if you want to call that a choice, then you can say there is free will. Otherwise, we're just observers to the universe fucking with us.
I do always have my suspicions that the term "random" is a placeholder for "we haven't figured out the pattern yet". But I don't know enough about it to possibly put any weight behind this yet.
But as you say, random or no, we're not making choices the way we think we are. I've seen an experiment where someone had to press one of two buttons, and not to decide until the last second which. But brain scans could determine what he was going to press about 6 seconds before he thought he had made the decision. To me, that shows are are being fooled.
How do you make a reasonable connection between quantum randomness and human cognitive functions if, by your own admission, you don't understand it?
MM
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
