(December 15, 2014 at 5:22 am)ManMachine Wrote: ... it is our belief in free will (unique in the animal kingdom) that keeps us mentally separated from other animals.I disagree with that statement.
First, there seems to no agreement on exactly what free will is.
I live out in the sticks and we have acquired cats through various drop offs and wanderings. IMHO, these cats demonstrate personalities and free will that appears indistinguishable from humans. This is not to suggest that their awareness is or is not at the same level.
I have argued in the past as unsuccessfully as everyone else on my opinion relating to free will.
The biggest problem is that I do not know myself if I truly have free will, which makes it hard to argue against someone else's opinion.
My personal dichotomy is either 'free will' is 100% biochemical responses or 100% external to the body (which leads into a whole nother discussion). This is, if any awareness is not 100% controlled/created by the biochemical processes of the body, there is no reason to believe that 100% of my awareness cannot be separate from the body. (And that again leads into a whole nother discussion).
You make people miserable and there's nothing they can do about it, just like god.
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
