On May 13, 11:46 am, R AM <ramra...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Sun, May 13, 2012 at 3:27 PM, Craig Weinberg <whatsons...@gmail.com>wrote: > > > > > What would be the point of learning though? What would be the > > difference between any one outcome and any other one if decision > > making were determined? It is only because of our own experience of > > free will that we can project some significance of any particular > > outcome. > > Maybe it is because of the significance of outcomes that we believe to have > free will.
That assumes a possibility of significance without it. I don't think that can be supported. > > > Evolution doesn't care how species mutate or whether > > individuals survive, why should the individuals themselves care > > either? > > Because individuals that care about outcomes survive? Only if they translate that care into behavior using their free will. Without free will, care is meaningless to survival. > > > > > Only if we program them to act like they are doing that. They never > > would learn anything on their own. > > The fact is that learning is possible in a deterministic universe. Even if it were possible, learning would be irrelevant in a deterministic universe. Craig > > > > > > The point is not changing future outcomes. In fact we don't know what > > that > > > outcome will be. The point is obtaining good outcomes. > > > Without the existence of free will as a given, there can be no "good". > > There is no problem in having good and bad outcomes in a deterministic > universe. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
