Comment on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 13, chapter 81

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:51:03 GMT

Maybe "magic" is what gives you a free will, ie the explanation of how a will can exist with a certain measure of independence from the neurons.

That would send a message quite contrary to lots of what LessWrong is about; so it'd be highly unlikely for Eliezer to have something like that in HPMoR.

Besides you are confusing at least three different concepts -- (a) "free will" in the sense of being active agents who make our decisions based on our own inner drives, (b) "consciousness" in the sense of being qualia-possessing self-reflective entities, and (c) "consciousness" in the sense of being mobile and receiving significant input about your physical surroundings (i.e. not sleeping or passed out).

When sleeping, people can be conscious in the (b) sense (as they can dream), but they're unconscious in the (c) sense.

Discuss