Patterner

IIRC, Hesse wrote in Steppenwolf that the character gained a measure of comfort by deciding on a date to commit suicide, because that gavr him a date ...

Serious question. Not at all sarcastic, or intended in any negative way. Why did you make the OP?

Again, Truth Seeker asked a question, and I answered. In all honesty, having an impact upon you hadn't entered my mind. Indeed. Soon enough, after thi...

You are correct. But Truth Seeker asked, and that's my answer.

No. Being a consciousness of human intelligence (more or less) is the most extraordinary thing in the universe. In 13,500,000,000 years, in the univer...

Good explanation of things. I don't disagree with anything significant. But I still don't understand why you say you are a compatibilist if you are ag...

One analogy is, if you are in a lumberyard, and you build a house, your house is not going to be made out of stone. Another analogy is, if you use the...

I don't know if I'm understanding you, because I see something very different. As you say, the natural laws govern the pre-structures. If the natural ...

I don't think you've wavered. The problem is that we do not understand what you're saying. As though you are saying, "My idea of circles is not incomp...

SEP says: "Compatibilism is the thesis that free will is compatible with determinism." if you are a compatibilist, what two (or more) things do you fi...

I always use the avalanche examples. A rock rolling down a mountain side in an avalanche is approaching a tree. It has choices. It might roll to the l...

That's a great answer. Thank you. It's good to have any understanding of your position. I was thinking of starting a thread like this, and editing the...

Excellent post. Thank you. I still don't understand where the freedom you believe in is found, or how it can exist. I'll reread. But I like much of wh...

The title of the thread says you have a problem with libertarian free will. And, in this thread, you said you believe in free will, you directed me to...

I agree. But I don't understand where freedom is introduced. Or perhaps I don't understand, as it says in the quote of the OP, "in what sense are they...

I have a tough time seeing it your way. I think an autonomous entity has - is - a mind. Archaea, bacteria, and amoeba live on their own. Neurons do no...

What is a mind? What does a mind do? This is from Journey of the Mind: How Thinking Emerged from Chaos, by Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam: They talk about th...

So Roombas are the mental equals of humans? The only thing separating us is emotion?

I did not. I was waiting to see if we were thinking of things the same way. The difference is I am aware that I have options. The Roomba goes one way ...

Right. I'm thinking this specific thing is less about working memory than what the ability to recognize numbers of randomly arranged objects is called...

Strikes that. What do you mean by working memory? I'm thinking someone could glance at, say, a max of 10 randomly arranged items, and immediately know...

Makes sense.

I would think there's a limit to this. We might recognize the number of dots on a die because of the specific arrangements that we've seen so many tim...

I suspect not, for two reasons. 1) Most people don't kick in their sleep, yet they kick in their dreams. So the sleeping kick can't be the cause of th...

How about wording it this way: A Roomba wouldn't work if it didn't realize it has options. I'm afraid you've lost me, regarding the puppet.

It seems to me you are talking about the Hard Problem of Consciousness. Photons hit retina; signals go to the brain; pattern recognition shows that th...

I could certainly have misunderstood what you are saying. In what way are you free, if only in a trivial way? I would think a decision making machine ...

In the Book vs. Water scenario, which action is a thing you want and are free to do, and which is the result of the machinery? I don't suspect you mea...

Cool. Can you tell me what kind of free will you have (pardon the pun) in mind? I understand (more or less?) the determinism and randomness, but not t...

(From another thread.). I had never heard the term compatibilism before coming to this site, and can't say that I have much of a handle on it. You say...

If this is true, isn't everything outside of the agent's control? If we have all the thoughts we think, and do all the things we do, because of all th...

What is free about Free Will in this scenario? From what is will free?

Things that are determined are predictable. But only to the degree that the predictor is able to perceive all the factors, and calculate all their int...

I agree entirely. And, of course, whether or not I measure the system would be determined, down to the second I begin. As well as whether or not I mea...

In determinism, could you have willed otherwise? What is will? In determinism, is it not the resolution of an uncountable number of factors which, alt...

What does "would otherwise have done" mean in a deterministic setting?

It is sometimes bizarre beyond any understanding. Like if we find ourselves interacting in a way with someone we absolutely would not interact with in...

Could be. It's all such a crazy, fascinating topic.

That's an amazing statistic! Indeed. It's not our conscious mind that makes us sleep. Our conscious mind often fights it in any way it can. Eventually...

What I was thinking is that we can go to sleep without shutting out sounds as thoroughly as we shut out sights. Sine people have white noise machines....

My last few days have been crazy busy. i've only read your latest response to me once, which isn't enough for me to have absorbed much. hopefully soon...

I have to read more about the eye/brain connection. Amazing stuff! TheYes, I think this was mentioned in Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the De...

That's rather fascinating information about the embryonic development of the retina! I'm afraid, though, it throws my understanding of things into cha...

If the retina is part of the brain, then are the sensory nerves in the toes? I don't know what your definition of brain is. If the sensory nerves in t...

Thank you for your response. I'm understanding it a little more with each reading. But I'm not understanding this:. Just as its your unconscious mind ...

IMO, the most amazing part of it is that, in my dreams, I am entirely surprised by everything. The scenery. What I find when I walk into a room. Who I...

Yes, Bach and Beethoven it is. Beethoven's quartets are the most sublime music every written. No, I'm one of those. :grin: I agree with Chalmers that ...

I'm not sure it's not the same thing, looked at from opposite directions. However, not rationalization, but explanation. It serms to me everybody's mi...

Thanks. But it was only the very lowest hanging fruit. :blush:

I don't know if one should. I do. I would cry my eyes out of I had to choose between saving the life of a beloved pet and a stranger, because I would ...