A wake up thought
I watched a really interesting program about Einstein, Bohr and their dispute about quantum-mechanics or more accurately the predictability of which yesterday, which after that for some weird reason led to a dispute about predictability about human behaviour.
The point was that just as you in principle should be able to predict the outcome of the throwing of a dice, if you knew everything around it (thrust, rotation, ankle, wind, exact weight, wind ect.) which was a point made in the program, in principle if you knew everything around a particular person and situation (upbringing, experience, mood, psychic condition, and the natural elements such as aggressiveness, intelligence ect.) you should be able to predict the behaviour in a given situation.
I know not everybody would agree with me on this (sorry for all these free-will disciples, but this is more scientifically founded than it sounds), but practically a person or a character is little more than the collection of all his experiences in his brain plus certain natural characteristics - all this are factors and could consequently be predicted. All these together form us, namely our brain. The interaction and the links of neuro-synapsis in our brain is our thinking and this is what ultimately determines our actions - maybe with the exception of some of our American friends, whose brain (stored collection of experience) is so exclusively composed of cheap TV-entertainment that their actions get determined by their president rather than their own brain. But this aside, the fundamental question is, would exactly the same person in exactly the same situation make the same decision. Now, while as an experiment this is impossible, because the mere fact that one already was in exactly the same situation significantly changes the person, hence the capacity to learn, but as a theoretical consideration it is possible. Now while it is a fairly good bet that if you gave Gandhi (or for the more religious people Jesus) a gun and ordered him to shoot someone you would repeatedly get a 'no' answer. Less profitable could be the bet as to, if either of these two would be lost in a city and came to a particular crossing, would they always end up taking the same turning, or is there an element of choice (free-will!!!) or less pompous stochastic? Unfortunately this is really hard to find out, because as I said on such a matter you will never be in exactly the same situation twice, not because you couldn't replicate the situation, but you won't be the exact same person. Your experience that the right turn didn't lead somewhere will most probable (as long you do actually occasionally think) lead you to the left. Once again unless you are America, because even after the experience of Vietnam they haven't learned enough to try the other road for a change. And thanks to Bush it seems highly likely that the next time the US comes to the same crossing they are going down the right turn again - even thought by now they should know that it only leads back to the same crossing again. Maybe there is such a thing as the glorious 'freedom' and free will, but in this version its stupidity!
The point was that just as you in principle should be able to predict the outcome of the throwing of a dice, if you knew everything around it (thrust, rotation, ankle, wind, exact weight, wind ect.) which was a point made in the program, in principle if you knew everything around a particular person and situation (upbringing, experience, mood, psychic condition, and the natural elements such as aggressiveness, intelligence ect.) you should be able to predict the behaviour in a given situation.
I know not everybody would agree with me on this (sorry for all these free-will disciples, but this is more scientifically founded than it sounds), but practically a person or a character is little more than the collection of all his experiences in his brain plus certain natural characteristics - all this are factors and could consequently be predicted. All these together form us, namely our brain. The interaction and the links of neuro-synapsis in our brain is our thinking and this is what ultimately determines our actions - maybe with the exception of some of our American friends, whose brain (stored collection of experience) is so exclusively composed of cheap TV-entertainment that their actions get determined by their president rather than their own brain. But this aside, the fundamental question is, would exactly the same person in exactly the same situation make the same decision. Now, while as an experiment this is impossible, because the mere fact that one already was in exactly the same situation significantly changes the person, hence the capacity to learn, but as a theoretical consideration it is possible. Now while it is a fairly good bet that if you gave Gandhi (or for the more religious people Jesus) a gun and ordered him to shoot someone you would repeatedly get a 'no' answer. Less profitable could be the bet as to, if either of these two would be lost in a city and came to a particular crossing, would they always end up taking the same turning, or is there an element of choice (free-will!!!) or less pompous stochastic? Unfortunately this is really hard to find out, because as I said on such a matter you will never be in exactly the same situation twice, not because you couldn't replicate the situation, but you won't be the exact same person. Your experience that the right turn didn't lead somewhere will most probable (as long you do actually occasionally think) lead you to the left. Once again unless you are America, because even after the experience of Vietnam they haven't learned enough to try the other road for a change. And thanks to Bush it seems highly likely that the next time the US comes to the same crossing they are going down the right turn again - even thought by now they should know that it only leads back to the same crossing again. Maybe there is such a thing as the glorious 'freedom' and free will, but in this version its stupidity!
The alternative to 'free will' is learning!
posted by Unknown at 10:02 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home