Free will means the individual has causal powers, rationality and will, that are not reducible to merely physical objects + laws of nature. The whole is primary, greater than the sum of its parts, and not reducible to the deterministic or even indeterministic interactions of particles at a small scale. We can blame people for the bad choices they've made, or praise them for the good, because they've formed their intellects and will so that their unforced choices represent their character. They could have formed their character differently and so could have done differently.
So, a supercomputer could not have perfect knowledge of the future as its predictions rely on a view of nature that excludes human intellect and free will, focusing only on what is mathematically quantifiable. Physics is an abstraction from reality, not reality itself. This model misses the forest for the trees, assuming that the trees it has bracketed off from the rest of the forest are the only things that exist.
No, I don’t believe I can change physical laws, as the entire concept of physical laws is itself problematic. What is even a universal physical law?
I disagree obviously but welcome the challenge. So question then. If you could somehow track every particle in your body and project them forward, would you expect that to not show what you’re going to do next?
Yes, I think it would be a near perfect prediction of what I would do next. I think you need to consider all the moments in the past that formed my character such that I would act in a particular way though. For example, if I were to kill someone in a road rage incident, I think that it would be possible that I could not do otherwise in that instant. You understand the laws of physics and you have perfect knowledge of what I will do next. I think you also have to look at the ways I formed my character so that I might react violently to someone cutting me off. Was I responsible for becoming the sort of person who couldn’t control his temper? If the answer is yes, then it’s still a free choice. But if all of my choices are merely reducible to the interaction of physical objects + laws of nature, such that my character is formed by forces outside of my control, then I have no free choice in anything.
Free will means the individual has causal powers, rationality and will, that are not reducible to merely physical objects + laws of nature. The whole is primary, greater than the sum of its parts, and not reducible to the deterministic or even indeterministic interactions of particles at a small scale. We can blame people for the bad choices they've made, or praise them for the good, because they've formed their intellects and will so that their unforced choices represent their character. They could have formed their character differently and so could have done differently.
So, a supercomputer could not have perfect knowledge of the future as its predictions rely on a view of nature that excludes human intellect and free will, focusing only on what is mathematically quantifiable. Physics is an abstraction from reality, not reality itself. This model misses the forest for the trees, assuming that the trees it has bracketed off from the rest of the forest are the only things that exist.
No, I don’t believe I can change physical laws, as the entire concept of physical laws is itself problematic. What is even a universal physical law?
http://www.edwardfeser.com/unpublishedpapers/whatisalawofnature.html
I disagree obviously but welcome the challenge. So question then. If you could somehow track every particle in your body and project them forward, would you expect that to not show what you’re going to do next?
Yes, I think it would be a near perfect prediction of what I would do next. I think you need to consider all the moments in the past that formed my character such that I would act in a particular way though. For example, if I were to kill someone in a road rage incident, I think that it would be possible that I could not do otherwise in that instant. You understand the laws of physics and you have perfect knowledge of what I will do next. I think you also have to look at the ways I formed my character so that I might react violently to someone cutting me off. Was I responsible for becoming the sort of person who couldn’t control his temper? If the answer is yes, then it’s still a free choice. But if all of my choices are merely reducible to the interaction of physical objects + laws of nature, such that my character is formed by forces outside of my control, then I have no free choice in anything.
Enjoy orcas island, great place
Thanks. It’s been nice. My son picked some kelp out of the ocean and tried to rub it in my chest.
Classic move