This reminds me of a programming assignment we had in college -- you had to write a rock paper scissor bot that went up against other students.
Can you use your "free will"? Try your hand
231–240 of 279 posts
Re: Can you use your "free will"? Try your hand
#232Just confirmed that my brain is much worse at producing randomness than python's random module. The site predicted my own "random" key strokes with ~67% accuracy. It was able to predict the output of a trivial python program that chose randomly between 'f' and 'd' with only 53% accuracy, and that probably would have converged to 50% with a larger sample.
Re: Can you use your "free will"? Try your hand
#233Initially I was getting around 40-50% - after so many clicks it would start to tick up to 55% and hold fairly regularly.
I could of course influence my patterns but I could also tell I was re-using some patterns, and getting bored of varying them after around 55%. This was fairly trivial for me, but its interesting that many people can't do this (easily).
Re: Can you use your "free will"? Try your hand
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is an exercise of free will to overcome the imposed barriers of some test.
Does it count if you allow the test to be accurate but you still maintain control over when it is wrong? I just spammed F and randomly hit D and it pretty much never predicted the D. Which I think captures a fundamental flaw in algorithms vs humans. Humans know how to mask their signals within noise. I'm inclined to believe the generalization that algorithms that aim for accuracy are highly susceptible to being manip…
It's not really a flaw in algorithms nor a skill in humans.
It's (also?) a weakness in humans: someone mostly does X, we lean very strongly into the assumption that they will never do !X. This is one of the most basic elements of human-to-human deceipt since ... well, since the dawn of any kind of recorded/remembered human history.
Re: Can you use your "free will"? Try your hand
#235Whee, I did pretty well against it, managed to be at around 30%. https://imgur.com/a/GmaE45k (And no, I didn't write a Perl script, or have multiple goes to game the score, I just “tried not to do what I thought it'd think I'd do”.)
I also got under 50%, started out with 10% actually, which finally went to 36%. But I feel like it's just because I threw in many of single keys in a row there.
That's what you need to do. Most people think streaks are unlikely, which biases people to void even small streaks. The algorithm expects that, so to fool the algorithm initially, you need to tilt towards streaks, and then when begins to pick up on that, tilt away.
Re: Can you use your "free will"? Try your hand
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
The core of most confusion in the "free will" philosophical debates is that the "free will" concept is undefined, and people assume many different unspoken such definitions when debating it.
That was Hume's position, but we're still arguing even after he set out his definitions. :-)
Dennett did better, IMO, in "Elbow Room: the varieties of free will worth wanting"
Re: Can you use your "free will"? Try your hand
#237this has nothing to do with free will, only what our intuitive idea of randomness is
Re: Can you use your "free will"? Try your hand
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it is true. If something could predict all your actions with 100% certainty then you have no free will - you have no ability to decide for a different outcome than the one that is predetermined. Although if it wasn't like that and you could do truly random decisions, I'm not sure what that says about your free will either. If I had to guess, I don't think I have a free will. In my opinion my actions are a det…
> In my opinion my actions are a deterministic function of the state of my mind (including memory, personality) + input. I have no choice in the matter, only an illusion of one It's important to note that as far as materialist physics goes, "you" are literally "your state of mind (including memory, personality) and input". The fact that this system (i.e. "you") produces an apparently deterministic result doesn't mean…
I think that is exactly my stance. You are a system that is complex, iterative, and chaotic (in the mathematical sense). You are probably deterministic, but the only way you can be accurately predicted is by simulating your entire brain and sensory experience, along with memories, to the degree it's no longer a simulation; it's just building a copy. At that point, it's not a prediction; it's creating a copy of you and seeing what they would do.
Re: Can you use your "free will"? Try your hand
#239I fail to see how it's related to free will. I can look at the digits of PI and press d and f depending it's odd or even. So what does it prove? Nothing. Being able to beat this algorithm doesn't mean that I have free will, and choose to fall into patterns (knowing the PI solution exists) doesn't mean I don't.
It’s explained on the linked site that the free will comment is a joke.
It seems that it tests both free will and sense of humor.
Re: Can you use your "free will"? Try your hand
#240I've long been very curious how one would generate a reasonably good source of randomness in a practical way without using a computer. Perhaps one could think of a song and then try to deduce randomness from the first letter of each word. I haven't found a way yet, any ideas?
I occasionally want to use a reasonably good source of randomness when e.g. picking a board-game player or picking a random item on a menu.