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From: ellis@chips2.sri.com (Michael Ellis)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Free will and responsibility.
Message-ID: <32091@sri-unix.SRI.COM>
Date: 24 May 89 02:09:40 GMT
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Reply-To: ellis@chips2.sri.com.UUCP (Michael Ellis)
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> Barry Kort >> Brian Colfer

>>	   1) No one can absolutely answer the question of whether 
>>		  the human mind is completely determined.

>I disagree.  I have a Value System, which I consult when making
>decisions.  But occasionally I am caught on the razor's edge,
>with no clear preference between competing alternatives.  Then,
>like Dorothy at the fork in road, I choose at random (rolling the
>dice if necessary).

    So your actions are determined by a Value System augmented by a
    tie-breaking random number generator. That's hardly what most
    hard-core "libertarians" (ie: FreeWillers) are looking for.

>..Casting lots is a venerable solution to such undetermined choices.

     Just how does a tie-breaking random number generator count as making
     a radically free choice, one that is authentically one's own, not 
     determined by the the whims or constraints of another being?

>..Are you now convinced that at least one living mind is not completely
>determined?  (Feel free to be reasonable, if you so choose.)

    You did not convince me, and I am a hardcore libertarian.

-michael