Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!AI.AI.MIT.EDU!AIList-REQUEST
From: AIList-REQUEST@AI.AI.MIT.EDU (AIList Moderator Nick Papadakis)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.digest
Subject: AIList Digest   V7 #4 [bwk@mitre-bedford.arpa: Re: Free Will & Self Awareness]
Message-ID: <8805250055.AA01059@BLOOM-BEACON.MIT.EDU>
Date: 25 May 88 00:55:34 GMT
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Date: 9 May 88 21:05:14 GMT
From: bwk@mitre-bedford.arpa  (Barry W. Kort)
Reply-to: AIList@AI.AI.MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: Free Will & Self Awareness [AIList Digest   V7 #4]

Perhaps it would help if I offered a straw proposal for invoking one's
free will in a specific situation.

Assume that I possess a value system which permits me to rank my
personal preferences regarding the likely outcome of the courses
of action open to me.  Suppose, also, that I have a (possibly crude)
estimate of your value system.  If I were myopic (or maybe just stupid)
I would choose my course of action to maximize my payoff without regard
to you.  But my knowledge of your value system creates an interesting
opportunity for me.  I can use my imagination to conceive a course
of action which increases both of our utility functions.  Free will
empowers me to choose a Win-Win alternative.  Without free will, I am
predestined to engage in acts that hurt others.  Since I disvalue hurting
others, I thank God that I am endowed with free will.

Is there a flaw in the above line of reasoning?  If so, I would be
grateful to someone for pointing it out to me.

--Barry Kort

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