Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcvax!ukc!etive!aipna!edai!cam
From: cam@edai.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.edai   031 667 1011 x2550)
Newsgroups: comp.ai,sci.psychology
Subject: Re: Free will and responsibility.
Keywords: Self-Protective Behaviors, Survival Strategies, Devils and Angels
Message-ID: <402@edai.ed.ac.uk>
Date: 31 May 89 19:02:37 GMT
References: <10333@ihlpb.ATT.COM> <3850@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> <52019@linus.UUCP> <533@orawest.UUCP> <2586@rice-chex.ai.mit.edu> <54737@linus.UUCP>
Reply-To: cam@edai.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm)
Organization: Dept. of AI, Univ. of Edinburgh, UK
Lines: 21
Xref: utzoo comp.ai:4189 sci.psychology:2025

In article <54737@linus.UUCP> bwk@mbunix (Barry Kort) writes:
>In article <386@edai.ed.ac.uk> cam@edai (Chris Malcolm) writes:
>
> > In fact, the reason why I sometimes fail to
> > exercise my free choice to do the Right and Proper thing
> > is that I sometimes lose control of myself, and am overcome
> > by the determinism of some animal greed...
>
>Yeah, that happens to me too.  Now and then my cerebral cortex
>and my limbic system get into a contest and my rational mind
>yields control to my pre-wired instincts.

A notion I recall from school biology was that we have three nested
brains: a lizard's brain, which provided the instincts and passions; a
mammal's brain, which provided the emotions and moral feelings; and the
cerebral thingy, which provided rational thought, pedantry, etc.. Before
I get too taken with this notion, would anybody like to slander it?
-- 
Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.edai   031 667 1011 x2550
Department of Artificial Intelligence, Edinburgh University
5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK