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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 2761383" data-attributes="member: 177">As I understand the state of neurophysics today, this is not necessarily, true.&nbsp; Actually, as I understand it, it isn't true at all.&nbsp; The switches in computers are deterministic - if you apply the voltage, the switch flips, period, end of discussion.The switches in the human brain are not deterministic.&nbsp; The signal comes down from one nerve to the juncture, and the next neuron fires.&nbsp; Usually.&nbsp; But not always.&nbsp; There's the vagueries of neurotransmitter action there - in this, there are several layers of statistical propbability, such that the next neuron may not fire.&nbsp; There are few enough misfires (and enough redundancy) that the system is stable, but there may be enough so that the system is not deterministic. Given the possibility of the amplification, why doesn't it capture the nature of genuine freedom.&nbsp; Freedom is the state of not being locked into a particular behavior.&nbsp; Freedom is the ability to not follow rules.&nbsp; The root of the work around is not the issue - merely the result.With a single Geiger counter, or even many counters, you're still talking only about input and process.&nbsp; In essence, you're talking about a computer that has an input of an &quot;eye&quot; that sees radiation, and reacts to it in a predictable manner.&nbsp; You may be able to reach the desired goal in this way, but there's another route that is more likely:&nbsp; make your computer like the human brain - non-deterministic in the details of it's operation.&nbsp; Make teh switches non-dterministic.We are just starting to build such things, called &quot;quantum computers&quot; in the common parlance.&nbsp; Each of their &quot;switches&quot; is non-deterministic.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 2761383, member: 177"] As I understand the state of neurophysics today, this is not necessarily, true. Actually, as I understand it, it isn't true at all. The switches in computers are deterministic - if you apply the voltage, the switch flips, period, end of discussion. The switches in the human brain are not deterministic. The signal comes down from one nerve to the juncture, and the next neuron fires. Usually. But not always. There's the vagueries of neurotransmitter action there - in this, there are several layers of statistical propbability, such that the next neuron may not fire. There are few enough misfires (and enough redundancy) that the system is stable, but there may be enough so that the system is not deterministic. Given the possibility of the amplification, why doesn't it capture the nature of genuine freedom. Freedom is the state of not being locked into a particular behavior. Freedom is the ability to not follow rules. The root of the work around is not the issue - merely the result. With a single Geiger counter, or even many counters, you're still talking only about input and process. In essence, you're talking about a computer that has an input of an "eye" that sees radiation, and reacts to it in a predictable manner. You may be able to reach the desired goal in this way, but there's another route that is more likely: make your computer like the human brain - non-deterministic in the details of it's operation. Make teh switches non-dterministic. We are just starting to build such things, called "quantum computers" in the common parlance. Each of their "switches" is non-deterministic. [/QUOTE]

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