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Re:What’s expected of us (2005) by praptak on Tuesday November 17, 2020 @01:55AM (#25120930)
One second is plenty of time to react by stopping your hand.

So what happens if I train myself to slowly move my hand towards the button and only stop when seeing the light?

Re:What’s expected of us (2005) by nextaccountic on Tuesday November 17, 2020 @04:16AM (#25121598)
You mean, stop and not press the button? In this case, the light never appears. The switch must be pressed eventually in the future so that the circuit sends the message back in time. If you find out a way to "trick" the system by never pressing the switch, it never sends the message in the first place.

The mechanism doesn't work by predicting whether you will press the button in 1 second. It works after you have actually pressed the button!

Re:What’s expected of us (2005) by inimino on Tuesday November 17, 2020 @01:59AM (#25120947)
Then the light doesn't come on (at least until you start to entertain the idea of hitting the button after all...).
Re:What’s expected of us (2005) by praptak on Tuesday November 17, 2020 @02:20AM (#25121047)
My point is that this device proves more than non-existence of free will. It requires inability to react to visual stimulus within 1 second timeframe.

I mean I can construct a robot which does the same - moves its arm towards the button and only stops when either the button is pressed or the light comes on.

Re:What’s expected of us (2005) by TeMPOraL on Tuesday November 17, 2020 @02:28AM (#25121076)
You say you can construct such robot, but in fact, you can't. That's because if you could, then it would cause a paradox with a predictor. So you can't (though it may be fun watching you try).

Don't mess with time travel.

Re:What’s expected of us (2005) by praptak on Tuesday November 17, 2020 @03:33AM (#25121362)
My point exactly - the existence of the Predictor proves more than lack of free will. It's lack of free will, so we are automatons that respond to stimuli in a deterministic way, sure.

But there are also some strong restrictions on the set of reactions that are allowed, for example none of them can lead to a functioning counter-predictor robot.

Re:What’s expected of us (2005) by hvdfhbj on Tuesday November 17, 2020 @03:09AM (#25121247)
I spent way too long thinking about this and getting annoyed before remembering that Predictors aren't real.
Re:What’s expected of us (2005) by jerome-jh on Tuesday November 17, 2020 @03:15AM (#25121279)
They are real and this is the future of advertising.
Re:What’s expected of us (2005) by psychoslave on Tuesday November 17, 2020 @04:47AM (#25121849)
> So what happens if I train myself to slowly move my hand towards the button and only stop when seeing the light?

Mu[1]. There is no such a device, so there is no way to train against its intended purpose.

[1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mu#Interjection