Re: particles have free will

Posted by Russ Abbott on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/particles-have-free-will-tp2655680p2656733.html

That's the end of cheeriness.

-- Russ

On Sat, Apr 18, 2009 at 10:55 AM, Nicholas Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:

This is the sort of thing that drives behaviorists to be tower murderers. 

 

"It asserts, roughly, that if indeed we humans have free will, then elementary particles already have their own small share of this valuable commodity."

 

First, what kind of a syllogism is this? 

 

Second, valuable to whom?  For what? 

 

Third, assertions of free will in anything .... even humans --are not consistant with materialism.  Materialism is the doctrine that everything that is real consists of matter and its relations.   

 

Beyond materialism is only madness.

 

Free will is just a legal doctrine that allows us to kill people when they do something we dont like. 

 

Nick  

 

 

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,

Clark University ([hidden email])

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

 

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: [hidden email]

To: [hidden email]

Sent: 4/18/2009 8:28:20 AM

Subject: [FRIAM] particles have free will

According to Conway (Game of Life inventor), particles have free-will. See http://kk.org/ct2/2009/03/particles-have-free-will.php for a summary and http://www.ams.org/notices/200902/rtx090200226p.pdf for the paper.

Seems that every time I turn Netlogo off, I'm committing murder....

Robert

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org