Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How can you be rational and still believe in free will?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 84 posts

Re: Ask HN: How can you be rational and still believe in free will?

#61

Post by [deleted] »

aidenn0 wrote: post #43
amichail wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In other words, it would be irrational to not operate on the assumption that you have free will. Religious people might say something similar about God's existence.

This is very different from Paschal's wager. Paschal's wager presents a false dichotomy: either you believe in no god, or you believe in the christian God. There are a plethora of religions to choose from, and it is also possible that there is a very strange god who puts all athiests in heaven and all believers in hell. Therefore Paschal's wager breaks down. However, we have a true binary split here when talking abou…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How can you be rational and still believe in free will?

#62

Post by [deleted] »

bad_user wrote: post #32
amichail wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In other words, it would be irrational to not operate on the assumption that you have free will. Religious people might say something similar about God's existence.

There are multiple degrees of "faith" one can invest in a religion. Believing in God and being a good person is miles and miles away from being a superstitious fanatic that wants to punish the infidels. Similarly, you can be aware that certain decisions you make may have external influences ... versus being a lunatic that constantly fears the whole universe is against him.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How can you be rational and still believe in free will?

#63

Post by [deleted] »

amichail wrote: post #19
Xurinos wrote: post #12

I remember beating myself over this idea in college, that there is no such thing as free will. I came to believe it. Then I realized something that was even more important: it does not matter if it is true. This is not a form of enlightenment that actually helps me or anyone. Really, work through it. Congratulations: you discovered that everything you think and do is preordained by the first energy patterns of the un…

In other words, it would be irrational to not operate on the assumption that you have free will. Religious people might say something similar about God's existence.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How can you be rational and still believe in free will?

#68

Post by noodle »

Xurinos wrote: post #52
noodle wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you don't think that manipulation on the level of being able to fully remove free will would have to originate from a fundamental force?

I can make my computer output the number 42, and we can argue that there is a force behind me that resulted in that program to output 42 (as well as in Scott Adams's choice of the number and my inevitable reading of his books, etc etc). But it is easier to identify that I manipulated my computer to output 42. Similarly, our environment may be affected by any number of forces, and we may be entirely pattern-matching,…

humans are sentient, though. yes, we have DNA that points us in a certain direction, our environment and upbringing point us in a certain direction, but this doesn't necessarily predetermine our outcomes. some people are a product of these things, and others break out of the proverbial mold.

Re: Ask HN: How can you be rational and still believe in free will?

#69

Post by dolphenstein »

Josh0 wrote: post #53

There was a science story published today on technologyreview.com that reported on a team that purported to essentially prove that quantum entanglement proves free will. http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/25665/

Neurons are way too big to be entangled (pun intended!) with quantum physics. They act in a deterministic way. The only thing I could gleam from that article is that atoms might have "free will". To that I say: So what?
Post reply on HN