That reminds me of Feynman's Thesis and his (failed) attempt to build his Feynman's Radio...
What's expected of us
11–20 of 59 posts
Re: What's expected of us
#12Anyone that liked this should definitely check this one as well by the same author: http://infinityplus.co.uk/stories/under.htm
I highly recommend Ted Chiang. I really enjoyed "Story of your Life" available in this short story collection of the same name: http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Your-Life-Others-Chiang/dp/193... Some of the stuff is a but uneven but he's written some of the most thought-provoking sci-fi I've read in some time.
Looks like "Story of Your Life" is going to be made into a movie.
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/10/ted-chiang-story-of-your-li...
Re: What's expected of us
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
I highly recommend Ted Chiang. I really enjoyed "Story of your Life" available in this short story collection of the same name: http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Your-Life-Others-Chiang/dp/193... Some of the stuff is a but uneven but he's written some of the most thought-provoking sci-fi I've read in some time.
Looks like "Story of Your Life" is going to be made into a movie. http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/10/ted-chiang-story-of-your-li...
Hmm. I'd like to say I'm excited but I really don't see how they will capture that story effectively in film.
Re: What's expected of us
#14Sadly we're not informed what happens if you program a robot to press the button at fixed intervals unless it observes a flash.
Re: What's expected of us
#15Sadly we're not informed what happens if you program a robot to press the button at fixed intervals unless it observes a flash.
Or, for that matter, a human.
Re: What's expected of us
#16The predictor already exists, there's a common FMRI experiment in neuroscience where with about 80% accuracy the scientists can predict you're about to push the button about one second before you decide to do it. Someone no doubt will post a link, I don't have time to Google it now. I'm guessing it's the inspiration for this story. I'm more curious about what you guys think. I've long thought the arguments against fr…
Interesting. If the observers were to play a distracting tone every time they predicted that you were about to decide to press the button, would you never experience deciding to press the button?
Re: What's expected of us
#17Does such a detector imply that there is no freewill? Would determinism imply it?
Imagine the predictor works, what does that mean? One second prior to the action, the course you would take is set. This is actually probably a point in favor of the possibility of freewill; humans are course-taking machines, we have a whole life (and our evolution before that) to acquire dispositions that will one day help us survive. What kind of freewill do we want? Do we want to be "free to dodge a brick when thrown at us" or "free, one second before the brick arrives, to duck or not duck". Which of these is the important one? The kind of freewill we really want isn't the kind where we are free floating actors, it is the kind where our history, personal and evolutionary, dictates our present. The point is, real freedom is not about being without limits, it is about having sensible responses to ones environment; creatures evolve the freedom to avoid being eaten, the freedom to anticipate others' actions, the freedom to manipulate other agents with our clever words. Dan Dennett makes a better case for this than I, please look into his wonderful books on the topic.
Daniel Dennett: --Elbow Room --Freedom Evolves
Re: What's expected of us
#18Relevant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timequake
Re: What's expected of us
#19The predictor already exists, there's a common FMRI experiment in neuroscience where with about 80% accuracy the scientists can predict you're about to push the button about one second before you decide to do it. Someone no doubt will post a link, I don't have time to Google it now. I'm guessing it's the inspiration for this story. I'm more curious about what you guys think. I've long thought the arguments against fr…
Not 1, but 7 seconds before
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjourna...
Re: What's expected of us
#20This is known in the dynamical systems literature as strong anticipation:
http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/7493/2/Dynamical_mech...