Re: Mind's Eye Freewill - A useful myth?

I don't claim to be well versed in the latest scientific thinking but
because of the interest I developed in understanding the effects of
the latest theories in cosmology and neuroscience on such
philosophical questions such as the existence of the soul, free will,
life after death, beginning of the world, the place of humans on the
map of existence as special and somewhat priveleged, to more closely
look at these questions, I was intrigued by the quantum theory and its
implications. It seems to have single handedly shattered the
determinism and mechanicality of Newtonian physics and disproved that
if we know the exact place, velosity and other variables of a
particle, we can accurately predict where it will go next and its
exact speed. The principle of uncertainty which was developed after
serious empirical scruitiny affirms that at the subatomic level, we
cannot predict the movement of particles. Moreover, particles seem to
have a wave function which enables them to exist in several places at
once, but once measured, they change into actual particles and seem to
chose one position out of many to exist in. These are some of the mind
boggling traits of quantum theory. The particle response to
measurement maybe one aspect of how human consciousness affects
reality. Another more complex and still emerging assumption is that
while the quantum function is steadily reduced in larger bodies of
matter including the human body, the human brain seems to have
developed an ability to amplify the quantum function and hence
maintain the unpredictablity of subatomic particles. Scientists are
trying to build a quantum computer that may be able towork at hugely
faster rates than regular computers employing a similar approach. The
quantum brain theory is still being developed but I can refer you to a
book " The Quantum Brain : The Search for Freedom and the Next
Generation of Man" by Jeffrey Satinover. It is a very interesting
read.
On 1/5/12, malcymo <malcymo@gmail.com> wrote:
> Alan, I like you would sincerely like to believe that free will is a
> reality. Life would then be a simple matter of each of us being
> ressponsible for our actions.
>
> As Eman points out there have been advances in quantum theory which
> may indeed lead us towards a new way of thinking through these matters
> giving free will a firm basis..
>
> I, being removed from the latest thinking on the matter, am somewhat
> at a loss and would much appreciate some pointers in quantum research
> that can point a layman
> towards a rational review.
>
> What aspects of quantum theory affect this philasophic issue?
>
> Help is needed.
>
> Malcolm
>
> On Jan 6, 11:27 am, Allan H <allanh1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Free will is a reality.. the problem comes once you made your choice and
>> the effects of the choice ,, these results appear that you have no
>> choice,, you just mad it earlier.
>> Allan
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 10:33 PM, malcymo <malc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Humanity has always, for some reason, felt the need to support his
>> > world view with a series of myths commonly termed beliefs in order to,
>> > in some way, justify its behaviour. We must not, however, believe that
>> > these myths are always spiritual or mystical in nature. Many are not.
>>
>> > The legitimacy of a myth depends on many features. Umberto Eco in his
>> > excellent tome 'Foucault's Pendulum' quietly draws our attention to
>> > the requirements needed for the creation of a robust myth and there is
>> > no doubt that within most religious and philosophical beliefs the
>> > required elements are found.
>>
>> > Secular myths, however, are somewhat harder to pin down. This may be
>> > because they are founded little more than intuition. They are
>> > therefore difficult to identify as myths in the first place. Also,
>> > such myths can often serve a very useful purpose.
>>
>> > Let us take as an example the idea of freewill. The idea is so
>> > embedded in our psych that most of us believe it to be a reality. Even
>> > so, an in depth study soon reveals the fragility of the idea. So
>> > fragile is it that philosophers have argued over the question of
>> > determinism v free will for generations; time which could have been
>> > more usefully employed on other ventures. Indeed some eminent
>> > philosophers believe that free will and determinism can sit
>> > legitimately together – the so called Such is the nature of a myth.
>>
>> > We can only suppose that such an idea must appear rational to us in
>> > order to give it legitimacy. After all, our ideas of virtuous
>> > behaviour, responsibility and justice are founded on the idea of free
>> > will; that we are responsible for our actions and must accept our
>> > responsibilities. Yet, there is no doubt that free will defies the
>> > tenets embodied in modern physics, the idea of cause and effect. It
>> > seems to be extremely difficult for us to accept that some things just
>> > are.
>>
>> > I am interested in this dilemma because if we eventually discover, if
>> > we have not already, that determinism is beyond dispute how should we
>> > react? How could we possibly recreate our society to live with such a
>> > 'truth'?
>>
>> --
>> (
>> )
>> |_D Allan
>>
>> Life is for moral, ethical and truthful living.- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -