Re:Physics and Five Problems in the Philosophy of Mind
by samd on Friday February 12, 2010 @04:46PM
(#1121871)
It seems to be that an event is either random or determined, and neither option gives us what we want out of free will. I don't think there is any middle ground, and since it doesn't seem like our decisions are random, then they must be determined. Which also fits nicely with other things like psychology. Psychology shows that our actions can be predicted, which wouldn't be possible if they were random.
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Re:Physics and Five Problems in the Philosophy of Mind
by davatk on Friday February 12, 2010 @05:26PM
(#1121975)
Why not? The Miller-Rabin primality test is both random and, for all intents and purposes, predictable.
Re:Physics and Five Problems in the Philosophy of Mind
by samd on Friday February 12, 2010 @07:54PM
(#1122279)
How predictable? Do you mean that for any input x you can predict y?
Re:Physics and Five Problems in the Philosophy of Mind
by davatk on Friday February 12, 2010 @11:25PM
(#1122538)
I should probably stress that I agree with you on pretty much everything except that last sentence.
As for the Miller-Rabin test, it's basically a case where you can get a correct answer with an arbitrarily low probability of error. So I guess the tie in is that just because our decisions are predictable (or at least mostly so), doesn't mean there isn't randomness involved.
I'm starting to suspect that I'm responding to an interpretation you didn't intend, though.