Comments on: True Random http://pigsflew.com/archives/442 Realization of a Dream Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:45:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Chris http://pigsflew.com/archives/442/comment-page-1#comment-983 Chris Sun, 03 Dec 2006 21:55:22 +0000 http://pigsflew.com/archive/2006/11/18/442#comment-983 He walks by my apartment often. He's got an iPod. He walks by my apartment often. He’s got an iPod.

]]> By: Tom http://pigsflew.com/archives/442/comment-page-1#comment-865 Tom Tue, 21 Nov 2006 07:20:19 +0000 http://pigsflew.com/archive/2006/11/18/442#comment-865 More likely it is simply a product of differing personalities, differing approaches of learning applied to different situations. We may have all the right words, but the methods of thinking ingrained in us by virtue of how we are taught causes a social gap. What you are thinking of is simply the product of specialization. Steve, by virtue of his classical education, probably has a fairly deep understanding of human nature and understands that the extraneous activity of singing loudly at 2:30AM in Spanish is not too strange when compared to other human behaviors. It is therefore within the scope of human behavior. After all, humans created war, and do it for very little reason these days. A little singing is pretty common, comparatively. You, on the other hand, approach things by way of how often this activity occurs, and if such a thing happens (or would happen) rarely,then it must be 'strange'. In response to the point on a human being probabilistic, yet random enough to still have a 'soul' or free will, going back to the whole 'predetermination vs. free will' argument, I personally believe that they are independent of each other, and that a human is relatively deterministic, and given enough information, can be understood near completely, and predict his reactions and actions for any given situation, and yet still has free will. Predetermination and free will are independent of each other. It is simple. If free will is defined as our intent, and the action of our intent, then that act is an act of a human, and his responsibility. The responsibility is the result of his freedom to do what he wants, and what he wants, though deterministic, is still his, and dependent on himself. His action may be predetermined, because all things can be determined if the pattern is correct, but it is still his action. Sorry for the long response, I was bored, and thinking. More likely it is simply a product of differing personalities, differing approaches of learning applied to different situations. We may have all the right words, but the methods of thinking ingrained in us by virtue of how we are taught causes a social gap. What you are thinking of is simply the product of specialization.

Steve, by virtue of his classical education, probably has a fairly deep understanding of human nature and understands that the extraneous activity of singing loudly at 2:30AM in Spanish is not too strange when compared to other human behaviors. It is therefore within the scope of human behavior. After all, humans created war, and do it for very little reason these days. A little singing is pretty common, comparatively.

You, on the other hand, approach things by way of how often this activity occurs, and if such a thing happens (or would happen) rarely,then it must be ‘strange’.

In response to the point on a human being probabilistic, yet random enough to still have a ‘soul’ or free will, going back to the whole ‘predetermination vs. free will’ argument, I personally believe that they are independent of each other, and that a human is relatively deterministic, and given enough information, can be understood near completely, and predict his reactions and actions for any given situation, and yet still has free will.

Predetermination and free will are independent of each other. It is simple. If free will is defined as our intent, and the action of our intent, then that act is an act of a human, and his responsibility. The responsibility is the result of his freedom to do what he wants, and what he wants, though deterministic, is still his, and dependent on himself. His action may be predetermined, because all things can be determined if the pattern is correct, but it is still his action.

Sorry for the long response, I was bored, and thinking.

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