News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on John Conway: Discovering free will (2011). Parent comment

Re:John Conway: Discovering free will (2011) by coldtea on Thursday July 26, 2018 @12:15PM (#17618590)
>>If free will doesn't exist (in the universe), then nothing that happens after our birth can influence it.

>This is false. If the sun were to explode right now it would influence the earth. Neither of them have free will.

I didn't mean "nothing can influence the universe".

I meant nothing can influence someone's will (if free will doesn't exist).

Hence the "after our birth" qualifier.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:John Conway: Discovering free will (2011) by dragonwriter on Thursday July 26, 2018 @12:17PM (#17618611)
> I meant nothing can influence someone's will (if free will doesn't exist).

But it's still wrong. Just because will isn't free doesn't mean it isn't influenced by events in the physical universe (in fact, the alternative to free will is will completely determined by events in the physical universe.)

[ Parent | on HN ]