Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Geek Talk & Media
Why does the idea of no Free Will bother some people?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 6049417" data-attributes="member: 8835"><p>It's also possible that the "feeling" of having free will is sufficient in defining its presence.</p><p></p><p>Like Descarte's "I think, therefore I am", that which is unable to express such, does not have free will.</p><p></p><p>A gram of sodium, in a spoon, held over a swimming pool is unable to resist or express its will on the matter of being dropped into the pool. Once dropped, it has no choice in forming a violent reaction with the water.</p><p></p><p>Wheras, a puppy, held over a swimming pool, may be calm, may squirm and try to avoid its fate. Once dropped, the puppy may happily swim about, or may struggle to get out of the water.</p><p></p><p>As such, the amalgamation of neurans and chemical reactions creates a complex matrix that resembles free will that differentiates the entity from a rock, or a snail.</p><p></p><p>I would then posit, that one day, we may have a manufactured entity that exhibits this 'free will' and that entity may be eligible for the same rights and considerations as other recognized biological entities.</p><p></p><p>I would suspect that ability to pass a Free Will test would be more complex and imply greater cognitive ability (able to set and achieve its own goals, solve problems), compared to the basic Turing Test ala chat-room personability.</p><p></p><p>What would such a test look like?</p><p></p><p>Perhaps: present the testee with 2 vastly different problems and tell them they can choose one of them to solve.</p><p></p><p>The entity may be exercising free will in deciding which to solve, either by suitability (math is hard, so skip the math problem), or ego (I'll do the hard problem and show off how smart I am). I think there'd need to be more to it than that, almost something subjective, forcing the entity to indicate a non-objective preference that purely algorthmic decision would make. What's your favorite color, for instance.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Janx, post: 6049417, member: 8835"] It's also possible that the "feeling" of having free will is sufficient in defining its presence. Like Descarte's "I think, therefore I am", that which is unable to express such, does not have free will. A gram of sodium, in a spoon, held over a swimming pool is unable to resist or express its will on the matter of being dropped into the pool. Once dropped, it has no choice in forming a violent reaction with the water. Wheras, a puppy, held over a swimming pool, may be calm, may squirm and try to avoid its fate. Once dropped, the puppy may happily swim about, or may struggle to get out of the water. As such, the amalgamation of neurans and chemical reactions creates a complex matrix that resembles free will that differentiates the entity from a rock, or a snail. I would then posit, that one day, we may have a manufactured entity that exhibits this 'free will' and that entity may be eligible for the same rights and considerations as other recognized biological entities. I would suspect that ability to pass a Free Will test would be more complex and imply greater cognitive ability (able to set and achieve its own goals, solve problems), compared to the basic Turing Test ala chat-room personability. What would such a test look like? Perhaps: present the testee with 2 vastly different problems and tell them they can choose one of them to solve. The entity may be exercising free will in deciding which to solve, either by suitability (math is hard, so skip the math problem), or ego (I'll do the hard problem and show off how smart I am). I think there'd need to be more to it than that, almost something subjective, forcing the entity to indicate a non-objective preference that purely algorthmic decision would make. What's your favorite color, for instance. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Geek Talk & Media
Why does the idea of no Free Will bother some people?
Top