You actually made me think if I spent more time contemplating the rationality of voting or the rationality of the candidates. I believe in voting, but I don't personally want to vote. That is to say, other people can vote if they choose because that's the privilege they have in a democracy, but I don't vote for personal reasons. You could say that I had a traumatic experience (although that would be an overstatement). I followed the 2008 presidential election believing that Obama was the better choice. In hindsight, maybe neither choice was a good one. Whe...
This whole statement of yours is so fucked up I don't even know where to begin. It has some fundamental errors in logic and English. "If you are an atheist that does not believe in ghosts, what can you learn from rationality?" WTF?! What does being an atheist and/or not believing in ghosts have to do with learning from rationality. Is this your thesis or is this an attention grabbing statement? "I'd love to be wrong about lots of things but my problem is, I think I'm right." Of course you think you're right! If you thought you were wron...
'But even under the reductionist conception of free will, it still seems like Charles and Alex are somehow "less free" than "normal" people.'
This is the sentence that really stuck with me. I disagree with the quotation "less free". If I don't believe in free will, then I wouldn't say "less free" in a figurative or literal sense. I would rather say "less normal" than "less free". Because, I think we can all agree, Charles and Alex are NOT normal. Like you said, it's not like they have LESS control ...
I understand with conclusion more or less.
I agree it's beneficial to "Just Do It" at times. If you're a fan of Seinfeld, there's an episode where George does the opposite of what his instincts tell him to do and his life gets better. I think the "Just Do It" attitude could be beneficial sometimes, BUT NOT ALL THE TIME. For example, when you're sitting in front of your computer screen weighing the options of whether or not you should download an illegal copy of The Hurt Locker, that's when the "Just Do It" attitude would not be...
Has anyone developed techniques for thinking without words? That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to think in words. The slings and arrows of bewildering neural processes. Or to take arms against a manner of cerebration.
Enough of my soliloquy.
A good follow-up question is "How do people born blind think?" OR "How do people born deaf think?".
There is an answer out there.
How did you get 65%?