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From: williams@kirk.DEC (John Williams 223-3402)
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: How does it feel to be part of a continuous function?
Message-ID: <1558@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 8-Apr-85 18:01:10 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.1558
Posted: Mon Apr  8 18:01:10 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 10-Apr-85 23:44:04 EST
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	Allow me to explain something to you.

	We live in a continuous universe, meaning that there are 
always transitions. This means that there is a continuous 
function that describes the universe.

	You imply that " free will " is a state. You are arguing 
whether humans are in a state that is deterministic, or in a 
state that is " free willed ".

	The answer, of course, is neither. States are a figment 
of your imagination which help you carry out the simulation of 
reality that exists in your mind.

	So, either may be valid to your own particular 
perspective, whereas it is not applicable to discussion of 
reality.

	The simpler something is, the more deterministic. The 
more complex, the more that process can be said to display free 
will.

	What Rich was basically doing was relating relativity to 
thought, which happens to be valid, but he should also consider 
the limitations of our perceptual resolution, and recognize that 
as observers, we indeed observe " free will ", that which is 
impossible for us to simulate adequately.

	Einstein's theories were based on probability. We can 
state something to be consistent, but there is no proof beyond 
demonstration, and in demonstration, the probability approaches 
certainty without limit.

	So, it is true that our lives follow a precise continuous 
function, but we are only able to transcend time to a limited 
degree of resolution, and thus unable to know the universe in 
detail.

	Indeed, one of the driving concepts of the universe is 
the concept of free will, and the continuous function of the 
universe has included it in it's preordained path. Free will can 
be said to be a tool of the observer, and the observer's role in 
the universe appears to be an important one.

					John Williams