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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5705492" data-attributes="member: 4937">Sure it does, and fortunately the obvious counter-example is right at hand.&nbsp; Suppose I program a simple software agent to perform some task.&nbsp; The agent has no powers of reasoning; it simply recieves some input and acts according to the instructions I've given it.&nbsp; It never chooses to do anything.But it doesn't follow that the software agent is without rights.&nbsp; Indeed, it has to have certain rights to perform the task I've programmed it to fulfill.&nbsp; It may need access to certain ports, the rights to consume certain resources (CPU time included), and the right to output the results of its task - perhaps write to a file somewhere.&nbsp; If I withhold these rights and priviledges, then the software agent can't perform the task it was designed for, but in excercising its rights its never actually making a choice of its own in the sense meant by 'free will'.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 5705492, member: 4937"] Sure it does, and fortunately the obvious counter-example is right at hand. Suppose I program a simple software agent to perform some task. The agent has no powers of reasoning; it simply recieves some input and acts according to the instructions I've given it. It never chooses to do anything. But it doesn't follow that the software agent is without rights. Indeed, it has to have certain rights to perform the task I've programmed it to fulfill. It may need access to certain ports, the rights to consume certain resources (CPU time included), and the right to output the results of its task - perhaps write to a file somewhere. If I withhold these rights and priviledges, then the software agent can't perform the task it was designed for, but in excercising its rights its never actually making a choice of its own in the sense meant by 'free will'. [/QUOTE]

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