From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Tue Aug 10 1999 - 13:08:39 MDT
If you define "free will" as actions that are not caused by any external
force or lower level of physical reduction, then there's obviously no
such thing. If you use the same definition of "reduce" as in "The
Adapted Mind" (thank you, Paul Hughes!) and say that a higher level does
not reduce to a lower one unless there's an identity of pattern, not
just causation of pattern, then there might be free will.
If you use my definition of free will, then details of low-level physics
have nothing to do with it, nor does free will have a direct physical
basis any more than flowers are made of flower atoms; free will is a
cognitive abstraction used to define the basic unit of attributed moral responsibility.
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://pobox.com/~sentience/tmol-faq/meaningoflife.html
Running on BeOS Typing in Dvorak Programming with Patterns
Voting for Libertarians Heading for Singularity There Is A Better Way
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