Discussion about this post

User's avatar
David Nevarez's avatar

Great article! Appreciate your perspective.

Amazing content. Joining as a paid subscriber to support the effort!

Thank you!

Expand full comment
Phil Mayes's avatar

A couple of comments.

Firstly, I think our primary evidence for free will is that we experience it. But it is possible that our experience is mistaken; it has turned out to be wrong in many instances, of which my favorite is that the sun does not move across the sky. There are many others: confirmation bias, etc. This is not a "must be true" claim in the way that cogito ergo sum is. I see the claim of consciousness as a similar "must be true" claim.

The experiments by Libet suggest that actions start before we are conscious of them, and when we do become conscious, we claim ownership.

I do think that there is an intriguing question about life. Life is ordered, and we know that rust and moth doth corrupt, i.e. entropy destroys order. Life can maintain its order only by using the energy from the sun to counteract this. Life IS an order-producing phenomenon. I find this weird. Imagine a river flowing from a high-altitude low-entropy state to the ocean of chaos. Life exists where this flow reverses at some place, like an eddy in the stream. Why is there an order-producing niche in the world? How does this happen? Any physicists care to comment?

Expand full comment
7 more comments...

No posts