All of Doug_Wibby's Comments + Replies

Eliezer:

Although the I chose bits that were part of the whole, I think they are useful to consider how parts inform the whole, and use the parts-to-whole relation to—at least crudely—model the outer-to-inner relation.

HA:

What I was attempting to say is that the human mind appears to me to be a chaotic system. While it may be entirely deterministic, the outcome can be radically changed by small inputs.

The usage of the word 'illusion' as I am interpreting it is akin to "since all things are made up of a small amount of atoms and a large amount of space, ... (read more)

If I follow this correctly, choices are both deterministic and non-illusory.

The traditional line of thinking is something along the lines of "if my choices are determined by something else, they are illusion, and therefore do not matter." If the choices were illusory, then—if I have correctly understood—removal from the system would not have an effect on the system. Which is to say, 'past' leads to 'choice'—I'm unsure if 'present' is more correct in this case—leads to 'future' is indistinguishable from 'past' leads to 'future'

However, this is som... (read more)

-3TheAncientGeek
The argument that determinism is inimical to FW isn't the claim that you can remove the link labelled choice without changing anything else. It is partly based on the observation that the link is not in a privileged position that should objectively make it THE cause. Not only is it not the furthest back, it is also not the nearest and most I'mmediate cause of an event, since there is always some further mechanism needed to turn a choice into a successful action. Furthermore, deterministic "choice"doesn't have all the expected properties of free choice. Particularly , it lacks could-have-been-otherwise.