Defense of Freewill Against Determinism

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Night Ripper
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 09:20 am
@ughaibu,
ughaibu;146374 wrote:
That would depend on what's meant by a law, in any case, there's no reason to suppose that a world as predictable as ours is determined.


Exactly right. If we are randomly selecting from all possible randomly configured worlds then there are plenty of possible worlds that are predictable but still random.
 
Fil Albuquerque
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 09:23 am
@ughaibu,
ughaibu;145945 wrote:
Reasons to reject realism about determinism:
1) circularity
2) incommensurability
3) irreversibility
4) randomnesses
5) regresses.
Reasons to accept realism about determinism, I cant think of any.
Reasons to espouse realism about free will:
1) it can be demonstrated
2) there are no good objections.
Reasons to deny realism about free will, see above, there is no good reason.
 
Amperage
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 09:36 am
@Night Ripper,
Night Ripper;146701 wrote:
Exactly right. If we are randomly selecting from all possible randomly configured worlds then there are plenty of possible worlds that are predictable but still random.
It would seem to me that the only way your view can even be plausible is with the presupposition of an infinite number of random worlds. Anything else and the odds simply do not support such a theory.

This is quite a large jump however.....Not only are you suggesting an infinite number of worlds but they must also be random. We have no sufficient reason to believe that our world is random therefore it seems unreasonable to think there would be an infinite number(something that seems implausible as well) which were. On the other hand we have piles of data that suggest it is highly highly more likely that our world is governed by preset laws/conditions rather than by ever increasing odd defying chance.
 
ughaibu
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 09:36 am
@Fil Albuquerque,
Fil. Albuquerque;146702 wrote:
1 - Something, what there is, being defined and circumscribed instead of infinite...Infinity implies indefiniteness if quantified, or that quantification makes no sense...(infinities in Physic bring all sorts of contradictions and problems)
Physics, from Newton on, relies on real numbers as ontological facts. This is a commitment to infinity. I agree that this is a problem for determinists, they have the problem of needing to throw out the vast majority of physics since Pythagoras.
Fil. Albuquerque;146702 wrote:
2 - That a bruit fact of Nature, ultimately, Reality, is resumed, meaning it exists...and that becoming is a phenomena of what is, not of what is not...(against non-being)
I dont know what you mean, so this doesn't constitute a reason, as far as I'm concerned.
Fil. Albuquerque;146702 wrote:
3 - Whatever expansion might be, for the Universe, is not towards, or, in nothingness, this in the old paradigm, once being implies all times instantaneously, as all the space...or, that Multiverse in the new paradigm, if being all there is, cannot be infinite. Avoiding nothingness as an exterior to infinite energy dynamic in a confined space, or avoiding infinite space conception (it can be only a metaphor)...all in all avoiding infinities seems wise and reasonable if one thinks on what it means.
Again, if you "avoid" infinities, then you're at odds with the best theories of physicists.
Fil. Albuquerque;146702 wrote:
4 - Determinism implies the Necessity and Universality of the Law as a reflection of Being itself, for what it is in all Times...meaning it flies in the face of "magic" conceptualization of the world in a open future...
This view needs to be justified by an argument establishing that human beings are capable of completely understanding the world. Such an argument is obviously impossible, and human beings are stuck with the fact that there will always be things that they dont understand. There is no implication from this concerning magic, quite the reverse, the notion that human beings can understand everything has religious roots, like the PSR.
 
Arjuna
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 09:43 am
@Fil Albuquerque,
Fil. Albuquerque;146702 wrote:
Avoiding infinity would be easier if we didn't need it as the foundation of the idea of finiteness, right?

From what vantage point do we see both? Who is it... who sees the relationship? Is there an uncrossable abyss between infinite and finite? Or are they two sides of the same coin?

Inside the happy bubble of the universe, we pause to consider what's outside it. Where must we be standing to see the bubble?

That's why you can't logically say there's nothing outside the bubble. Because when you said bubble... you were already positing something outside it... right?
 
Night Ripper
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 09:49 am
@Amperage,
Amperage;146705 wrote:
It would seem to me that the only way your view can even be plausible is with the presupposition of an infinite number of random worlds. Anything else and the odds simply do not support such a theory.

This is quite a large jump however.....Not only are you suggesting an infinite number of worlds but they must also be random. We have no sufficient reason to believe that our world is random therefore it seems unreasonable to think there would be an infinite number(something that seems implausible as well) which were. On the other hand we have piles of data that suggest it is highly highly more likely that our world is governed by preset laws/conditions rather than by ever increasing odd defying chance.


All my view requires is that it's logically possible which you've just conceded. The only thing left now is to make you understand the mistake that's allowing you to think you have evidence for something that is untestable.
 
Amperage
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 09:57 am
@Night Ripper,
Night Ripper;146712 wrote:
All my view requires is that it's logically possible which you've just conceded. The only thing left now is to make you understand the mistake that's allowing you to think you have evidence for something that is untestable.
On the top level, which I just stated, at least in terms of your presuppositions(1. There are an infinite number of worlds, 2. All those worlds are random), I haven't necessarily been pushing for impossibility but implausibility.

I've tried to do so by suggesting that overwhelming confidence can be placed in certain correlations(if I chop someones head off they WILL die) to the point that it seems highly more likely that the conclusion IS actually and necessarily caused by the premise rather than by random chance.....I can do double blind blindfolded whatever randomization tests I want..

With that being the case it seems highly more likely that our world is with cause rather than without cause(ie random)

I have also pointed out numerous times the absurdity to the idea that there ARE an infinite number of worlds. It's simply not possible otherwise our world would not be.

With both of your presuppositions being overwhelmingly more likely to not be the case it seems implausible, IMO, but I suppose not impossible, that your theory could be correct.
 
Night Ripper
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 10:02 am
@Amperage,
Amperage;146714 wrote:
I've tried to do so by suggesting that overwhelming confidence can be placed in certain correlations(if I chop someones head off they WILL die) to the point that it seems highly more likely that the conclusion IS actually and necessarily caused by the premise.


1. Without exception, when someone's head is chopped off, they die.
2. Necessarily, when someone's head is chopped off, they die.

You are committing the modal fallacy if you think (1) implies (2).

'The' Modal Fallacy - Prof. Norman Swartz

Your argument is fallacious. The truth of (1) gives us no reason to believe (2).

3. Contingently, when someone's head is chopped off, they die.

It also supports (3) equally well.

Amperage;146714 wrote:
I have also pointed out numerous times the absurdity to the idea that there ARE an infinite number of worlds.


I said an infinite number of logically possible worlds. These possible worlds aren't actual. There's nothing absurd about it at all.
 
Pyrrho
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 10:33 am
@Night Ripper,
Night Ripper;146368 wrote:
Emil;146365 wrote:
all outcomes equally probable


This is the definition I'm using. Is there a problem with it? If I randomly select from all possible universes one of those possible universes is that in which nothing ever accelerates faster than the speed of light.

Emil;146365 wrote:
The flip of a fair coin is purely random.



This was the example I gave earlier. Was there a problem with it? If we select from every possible infinite string of fair coin flips there is a possible string of infinite heads. That kind of huge coincidence is analogous to a universe where nothing ever accelerates faster than the speed of light.



You are quoting a fragment from the definition of "random", not any standard definition of the term at all. The whole from which you have selected a fragment is:

Quote:
Having unpredictable outcomes and, in the ideal case, all outcomes equally probable; resulting from such selection; lacking statistical correlation. The flip of a fair coin is purely random.The newspaper conducted a random sample of five hundred American teenagers.The results of the field survey look random by several different measures.


Being unpredictable is the essential part of the definition, and being all equally likely is only an ideal case, not essential to the meaning at all. Random means unpredictable. Taking a nonessential fragment of a definition and pretending that that provides a standard definition of a term is ludicrous.

But even if we take your idea, and say that random means having "all outcomes equally probable", you then have absolutely no way to make predictions about the future, because anything else happening is equally probable if it is the case that the universe has "all outcomes equally probable". So you are completely unjustified in using induction or any other method of predicting the future, if your theory is correct. If the universe truly has "all outcomes equally probable", then the future is unpredictable. So you cannot weasel out of random not meaning "unpredictable" in the manner you have attempted.

Just to remind you, here is Emil's post again:

Emil;146365 wrote:

Night Ripper;146354 wrote:
The universe can be both predictable and random. If nothing ever accelerates faster than the speed of light, not because there is a law but randomly, then we will be able to predict that nothing ever accelerates faster than the speed of light even though the universe is random.


You are using "random" in an uncommon way. Here is a dictionary look-up. ACB is quite correct.

random - Wiktionary

random (comparative more random, superlative most random)
Positive
random

Comparative
more random

Superlative
most random


  1. Having unpredictable outcomes and, in the ideal case, all outcomes equally probable; resulting from such selection; lacking statistical correlation. The flip of a fair coin is purely random.The newspaper conducted a random sample of five hundred American teenagers.The results of the field survey look random by several different measures.
  2. (mathematics) Of or relating to probability distribution. A toss of loaded dice is still random, though biased.
  3. (computing) Pseudorandom in contrast to truly random; mimicking the result of random selection. The rand function generates a random number from a seed.
  4. (colloquial) Representative and undistinguished; typical and average. A random American off the street couldn't tell the difference.
  5. (colloquial) Apropos of nothing; lacking context; unexpected; having apparent lack of plan, cause, or reason. That was a completely random comment.The teacher's bartending story was interesting, but random.The narrative takes a random course.
 
Night Ripper
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 10:55 am
@Pyrrho,
Pyrrho;146729 wrote:
So you are completely unjustified in using induction or any other method of predicting the future, if your theory is correct.


Again, you're questioning why I rely on induction. The answer is because there can be no other better strategy for predicting the future.

Quote:
The pragmatic approach to the problem of induction associated with Hans Reichenbach and Herbert Feigl, that tries to show not that inductively based conclusions will be true, nor even that they will probably be true, but instead that there can be no other better strategy for predicting the future, or generalizing from evidence: induction will do well if anything at all will. An analogy is being stranded on a desert island with the opportunity to float off a bottle with a note requesting rescue: it may not be knowable how probable it is that this action will be successful, but it may be known that it will be successful if anything is, and hence the strategy is rational.
If it works then it works. If it doesn't then I couldn't have done any better. I am justified in using induction.
 
Fil Albuquerque
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 11:17 am
@ughaibu,
ughaibu;146706 wrote:
Physics, from Newton on, relies on real numbers as ontological facts. This is a commitment to infinity. I agree that this is a problem for determinists, they have the problem of needing to throw out the vast majority of physics since Pythagoras.I dont know what you mean, so this doesn't constitute a reason, as far as I'm concerned.Again, if you "avoid" infinities, then you're at odds with the best theories of physicists.This view needs to be justified by an argument establishing that human beings are capable of completely understanding the world. Such an argument is obviously impossible, and human beings are stuck with the fact that there will always be things that they dont understand. There is no implication from this concerning magic, quite the reverse, the notion that human beings can understand everything has religious roots, like the PSR.
 
Pyrrho
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 11:19 am
@Night Ripper,
Night Ripper;146735 wrote:
Again, you're questioning why I rely on induction. The answer is because there can be no other better strategy for predicting the future.

If it works then it works. If it doesn't then I couldn't have done any better. I am justified in using induction.



You are very selective in the bits of posts to which you respond, and the parts you ignore. It makes it easier for you to argue when you ignore the parts you don't want to deal with, doesn't it?

The upshot of my post is, several of your posts are self-contradictory, such as post 281:


Night Ripper;146701 wrote:
Exactly right. If we are randomly selecting from all possible randomly configured worlds then there are plenty of possible worlds that are predictable but still random.



Even with the definition you gave, random entails not being predictable.

And this also means that, if induction (or any other method) works for predicting the future, then the universe is not random, because being random entails not being predictable. So if induction works, then the universe is not random, contrary to your claims.
 
Fil Albuquerque
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 11:40 am
@Arjuna,
Arjuna;146708 wrote:
Avoiding infinity would be easier if we didn't need it as the foundation of the idea of finiteness, right?
Arjuna;146708 wrote:
From what vantage point do we see both? Who is it... who sees the relationship? Is there an uncrossable abyss between infinite and finite? Or are they two sides of the same coin?


One is the fantasy build upon the other...circular repeating is not true infinity !!! ( circular exact repeating is the best I can admit, but it has no purpose )

Arjuna;146708 wrote:
Inside the happy bubble of the universe, we pause to consider what's outside it. Where must we be standing to see the bubble?


What I am saying is that outside does not exist...the bubble is a perspective from inside in time and space, probably a phenomena or effect in the ONE axis of a binary huge "mathematical equation" sort to speak...we are debating effectsfog of war
Arjuna;146708 wrote:
That's why you can't logically say there's nothing outside the bubble. Because when you said bubble... you were already positing something outside it... right?


Being is everything there is...nothingness cannot even be a true concept...is a falsehood, a metaphor for what appears in the becoming, a consequence of time perception, hardly a fact...

Bubble is an effect !...(programming)

Arjuna I really enjoy your wise posts but in this matter we disagree...Smile
 
Amperage
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 11:41 am
@Night Ripper,
Night Ripper;146716 wrote:
1. Without exception, when someone's head is chopped off, they die.
2. Necessarily, when someone's head is chopped off, they die.

You are committing the modal fallacy if you think (1) implies (2).

'The' Modal Fallacy - Prof. Norman Swartz

Your argument is fallacious. The truth of (1) gives us no reason to believe (2).

3. Contingently, when someone's head is chopped off, they die.

It also supports (3) equally well.



I said an infinite number of logically possible worlds. These possible worlds aren't actual. There's nothing absurd about it at all.
do you have sufficient cause or reason to believe your own theory? If so, then you have just disproved your own theory since to have a cause or reason to believe it implies a lack of randomness.

One of the properties for being alive as a human means having a head....therefore it follows and necessarily follows that not having a head means one cannot be alive. As I said after experiment after experiment confirms and reconfirms a positive correlation between having a head and being alive enough time the odds that this correlation can be classified as a true cause tends to go toward 100%.

I keep hoping that random chance will eventually have you make a post where you realize that you are mistaken but gosh darn if you don't continue to defy the odds.

Oh well this will be my last post in this thread unless someone else addresses me or the discussion moves beyond this point.
 
kennethamy
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 11:43 am
@Night Ripper,
Night Ripper;146716 wrote:
1. Without exception, when someone's head is chopped off, they die.
2. Necessarily, when someone's head is chopped off, they die.

You are committing the modal fallacy if you think (1) implies (2).



First of all, although that argument is invalid, it does not commit the modal fallacy, since it does not switch a modal operator illegitimately. In any case, 2. is obviously false if the necessity operator in 2. is logical necessity.

Second of all: No one who think that necessarily when someone's head is chopped off, thinks that the necessity is logical necessity. The necessity there is physical necessity, not logical necessity. You seem to be extremely confused. Do you know the difference between logical and physical necessity? You do not seem to. I think that is your problem.
 
Fil Albuquerque
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 11:55 am
@kennethamy,
kennethamy;146745 wrote:
First of all, although that argument is invalid, it does not commit the modal fallacy, since it does not switch a modal operator illegitimately. In any case, 2. is obviously false if the necessity operator in 2. is logical necessity.

Second of all: No one who think that necessarily when someone's head is chopped off, thinks that the necessity is logical necessity. The necessity there is physical necessity, not logical necessity. You seem to be extremely confused. Do you know the difference between logical and physical necessity? You do not seem to. I think that is your problem.
what is somewhere else...being, not just concerning our future in space/time, but being, in all alternates futures in parallel Universes...therefore explaining choice away...

all in all, I would say that the future is pretty well determined, giving the impression of the opposite !

---------- Post added 03-31-2010 at 01:09 PM ----------

This is actually, the only way of understanding what everything really means...cover all time, all space, all variables, all energy and the axis of cause and effect, and pack it in a block ! Do this with all possible courses of action one for which block, and give people a trans-conscience of some of this possibility's, and there you have it, freedom invented !!! ( and BEING left intact)
 
ughaibu
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 12:32 pm
@Fil Albuquerque,
Fil. Albuquerque;146738 wrote:
1 - I which yo hear Omega man problematizing the serious possibility of real numbers not being real at all...you now, Chaitin, one of the best mathematicians around...he even said that possibly, if he would be remembered for more than 5 minutes in History, would be for something that may not even exist...
As I said, this view commits you to throwing out pretty much all of physics since Pythagoras. Once you've done that, other than it suiting your explanatory needs, what justification do you have for realism about determinism?
Fil. Albuquerque;146738 wrote:
3 - I mean, that the future is already there, so all time/space matter/energy and dynamic is defined in BEING ! Becoming is not magically open ended...
I dont see any reason to believe this, have you got one?
 
Fil Albuquerque
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 12:40 pm
@ughaibu,
ughaibu;146765 wrote:
As I said, this view commits you to throwing out pretty much all of physics since Pythagoras. Once you've done that, other than it suiting your explanatory needs, what justification do you have for realism about determinism?I dont see any reason to believe this, have you got one?
 
ughaibu
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 12:44 pm
@Fil Albuquerque,
Fil. Albuquerque;146768 wrote:
2 - I just gave you many reasons
As far as I can tell, your reasons are only psychological, you think it would be nice if determinism was the case, so you espouse realism about determinism. That's up to you, but it's neither a rational nor a convincing stance.
 
Fil Albuquerque
 
Reply Wed 31 Mar, 2010 12:47 pm
@ughaibu,
ughaibu;146770 wrote:
As far as I can tell, your reasons are only psychological, you think it would be nice if determinism was the case, so you espouse realism about determinism. That's up to you, but it's neither a rational nor a convincing stance.
 
 

 
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