Re: Penrose and algorithms

From: Bruno Marchal <marchal.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 16:47:21 +0200

Le 06-juil.-07, à 14:00, Jason a écrit :

>
>
>
> On Jul 5, 2:14 pm, LauLuna <laureanol....domain.name.hidden> wrote:
>>
>> I don't see how to reconcile free will with computationalism either.
>>
>
> It seems like you are an incompatibilist concerning free will.
> Freewill can be reconciled with computationalism (or any deterministic
> system) if one accepts compatabilism (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will#Compatibilism
> ). More worrisome than determinism's affect on freewill, however, is
> many-worlds (or other everything/ultimate ensemble theories). Whereas
> determinism says the future is written in stone, many-worlds would say
> all futures are written in stone.


Like comp already say. At least with QM we know that the future are
weighted and free-will will correspond to choosing among normal worlds.
With comp, there is only promising results in that direction, (which
could lead to a refutation of comp).
John Bell (the physicist, not the quantum logician) has also crticized
the MWI with respect to free-will, but this does not follow from the
SWE. The SWE does not say all future are equal. It says that all future
are realized, but some have negligible probability, and this left room
for genuine free-will. For example I can choose the stairs, the lift or
the windows to go outside, but only with the stairs and lift can I stay
in relatively normal worlds. By going outside by jumping through the
windows, I take the risk of surviving in a white rabbit world and then
to remain in the relatively normal world with respect to that not
normal world. This is why I think quantum immortality is a form of
terrifying thinking ... if you think twice and take it seriously. Of
course reality (with or without QM or comp) is more complex in any
case, so it is much plausibly premature to panic from so theoretical
elaborations. Actually computer science predicts possible unexpectable
jump ...
Is it worth exploring the possible comp-hell, to search the limit of
the "unbearable"? Well, news indicate humans have some incline to point
on such direction. That could be the price of "free-will". Have you
read the delicious texts by Smullyan (in Mind'sI I think) about the guy
who asks God to take away his free-will (and its associated guilt
feeling) ?

Bruno


http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/


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Received on Fri Jul 06 2007 - 10:47:30 PDT

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