Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!oddjob!ncar!boulder!sunybcs!sher
From: sher@sunybcs (David Sher)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Free Will & Self Awareness
Message-ID: <10942@sunybcs.UUCP>
Date: 5 May 88 15:36:34 GMT
References: <770@onion.cs.reading.ac.uk> <1177@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu>
Sender: nobody@sunybcs.UUCP
Reply-To: sher@wolf.UUCP (David Sher)
Distribution: comp
Organization: SUNY/Buffalo Computer Science
Lines: 21
Keywords: randomness responsibility
Summary: To discuss these issues we need to know what we are talking about.

It seems that people are discussing free will and determinism by
trying to distinguish true free will from random behavior.  There is a
fundamental problem with this topic.  Randomness itself is not well
understood.  If you could get a good definition of random behavior you
may have a better handle on free will.  

Consider this definition of random behavior:
X is random iff its value is unknown.

This is I believe a valid definition of randomness.  But in this case
free will may be a subset of random behaviors.  Other more
sophisticated definitions may be proposed for randomness.  

On a similar note to decide if we can allow machines to take
responsibility (which seems to be bothering our english contingent), we
must decide just what responsibility is.  We already entrust machines
with our lives and have for thousands of years (since we invented
boats).
-David Sher
ARPA: sher@cs.buffalo.edu	BITNET: sher@sunybcs
UUCP: {rutgers,ames,boulder,decvax}!sunybcs!sher