==========================
Jacques Bailhache
Y2K Centre of Expertise (BRO)
DTN: 856 ext. 7662
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Email: mailto:Jacques.Bailhache.domain.name.hidden
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: hal.domain.name.hidden [SMTP:hal.domain.name.hidden.org]
> Sent: Thursday, January 14, 1999 5:52 PM
> To: everything-list.domain.name.hidden
> Subject: RE: Amoeba croaks -
>
> Gilles HENRI, [Gilles.Henri.domain.name.hidden], writes:
> > À (At) 21:59 -0800 13/01/99, hal.domain.name.hidden écrivait (wrote) :
> > >
> > >When I speak of "choosing" to maximize the measure of good outcomes,
> > >you can, if you like, think of my activities as the working out of an
> > >incredibly complicated deterministic mechanism. But the latter view
> > >doesn't have any relevance to me as I make my decisions.
> > >
> > >Hal
> >
> > except that you don't really choose your decisions...Another issue is
> that
> > the notion of "good" is not universal but depends on your own subjective
> > perception of reality. The best way to be sure to make the good
> decisions
> > is to decide that all what happens is good (see Leibniz).
>
> Sorry, I really do choose my decisions.
[JB--] Does it really mean something to say that YOU choose your
decisions ? Or is it the laws of physics which choose your decisions ? Are
the concepts of YOU, ME, HE... really meaningful in your conception of
choice ?
> I consider "human choice" as
> "the deterministic workings of brain activities faced with possible
> outcomes, based on neural activities which are ultimately grounded in
> the laws of physics."
>
> Choice is consistent with determinism. My choices are determined by the
> laws of physics. They are still choices. I still agonize over them,
> I still weigh the alternatives. I process information; my neural nets
> compare alternatives; my neurons weigh their inputs and produce outputs;
> my vessicles release neuro-transmitters; my molecules diffuse according
> to the laws of entropy. I am all these levels of activity. No single
> level invalidates or supercedes the others.
>
> Now, you may have a different definition of choice. You may require
> that choice have some kind of random element, that it be inherently
> unpredictable. I don't know why you should believe it is better for
> choices to be random than to be based on circumstances, but if that is
> how you want to use the word, it is your privilege.
>
> Hal
Received on Fri Jan 15 1999 - 02:38:26 PST