Free Will.

I read an article somewhere about a test in which the subjects were asked to press a button as soon as they thought about it. Monitoring their brain activity showed that the section normally thought to primarily govern subconscious thought flared as much as a quarter second before the area generally associated with conscious thought.

The test shows that our subconscious is more involved in action based decisions than we tend to think. I'll try to find the article.
 
SkippingStones said:
I read an article somewhere about a test in which the subjects were asked to press a button as soon as they thought about it. Monitoring their brain activity showed that the section normally thought to primarily govern subconscious thought flared as much as a quarter second before the area generally associated with conscious thought.

The test shows that our subconscious is more involved in action based decisions than we tend to think. I'll try to find the article.

Discussed at length http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=42737 .
 
water said:
Cosmictraveler,

Yes and no.

I was once in a forest and met a dog, some 40 kilos of claw, teeth and muscle, dangerously growling. I distinctly remember pondering several options that I perceived to have:
1. ignore the dog and go on my way
2. turn around and back out
3. scare him away

What brought those options to mind?
 
Hmm.

I still think some of you don't quite understand what I'm getting at, but some of you do, and that's good. I don't mean free will SOCIALLY, as some of you have indicated. I don't mean free will like that, because it is obvious that some of us don't have it in that sense. In prison, for example, you do what you're told, when you're told, or suffer the consequences. I meant free will as in the ability to decide to, say, scratch your ear, or wiggle your toes.
I do realise that this is quite a pointless debate, as it is simply impossible to prove or disprove such a thing. However, this makes very interesting reading.

I would think that we don't have free will, but we think we do. And I think it's important to note that if we DON'T have free will, that doesn't neccesarily mean that there is such a thing as "destiny", it simply means that we are not controlling what we do. (As a quick aside, someone please correct my spelling of "neccesarily".)

I do think that if my earlier theory can be applied, the "your brain vs. you" theory, that everything you've said about our actions being a result of what we see, hear, know, etc. For example, someone reading this might decide they don't have free will, therefore they are not responsible for their actions, and whatever conrtols their thoughts and actions will act accordingly. (Of course, if it's true, then THEY won't decide anything, will they?)

I don't really have a fully formulated theory on this topic, so much of what I've said may contradict itself, or not make any sense. Still, wanting to know that kind of thing is why I come to places like this.


Thankyou for linking to that other tread, water.
 
§outh§tar,


What brought those options to mind?

I did not choose to see those options.
Based on my previous experience with dogs and what I have learned from other people's experience with dogs, a knowledge formed on how to deal with dogs. This knowledge was brought up in that situation - as this former knowledge enabled me to recognize the situation as a situation of choice.

Interestingly, had my knowledge been more exact, my perception more sharp (if I would exactly know what state the dog was in and how he would therefore react), I'd be left with one course of action, the most effective one.

Interestingly, when having full knowledge of a situation, we don't have free will anymore either (like when we have no knowledge of the situation).

For example, having full knowledge (well, almost full!) of a situation occurs when threatened and forced to do something, and also when we are operating in a field we know thoroughly (like we have no free will in how to make pancakes).


* * *


bren,


There is another thread on free will, very elaborate, and very good http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=45896

At first, it looks at the matter from the perspective of God giving free will, but then it delves into more practical aspects of free will.


(As a quick aside, someone please correct my spelling of "neccesarily".)

Necessarily.
 
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