nelson_p@apollo.uucp (05/21/88)
This 'free will' discussion has taken on the tone of a
religious topic. This is COMP.AI. Presumably we are
computer scientists or others who have a technical
interest in issues like machine intelligence, the
limits of mechanistic models in describing complex
systems, etc.
These comments by Eyal Mozes:
>Whenever a person faces a decision about what view to hold on some
>issue, or about what action to take, that person may focus his thoughts
>on all relevant information and thus try to make an informed, rational
>decision; or he may make no such effort, deciding on the basis of what
>he happens to feel like at that moment; or he may deliberately avoid
>considering some of the relevant information, and make a decision based
>on evasion. In each case, his decision is based on some reasons, but,
>by choosing one of these three approaches, he has volitionally chosen
>what those reasons will be.
...include a number of blanket, declarative statements about
'volition' that we must assume are merely the personal opinion
of the poster since he does not attempt to support them in any
way. Would Mr. Mozes care to provide some supporting data
or evidence?
--Peter Nelson