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Flint · 10-13-2019, 01:24 AM

This is tedious.

Look, there's more molecules in one teaspoon of brain cells than there are grains of sand on every beach in the world. We can't possibly understand or predict every chemical transaction they're making in even one microsecond of brain activity-- much less understand how this relates to consciousness, perception, or decision making.

But there's only TWO options to explain what they're doing: #1: they're obeying the laws of physics, like every other object in the vastness of the universe, of which we're just a tiny, insignificant speck. Or #2: they're animated and organized by something special, something that defies the natural laws and therefore must be transcendent-- MUST be supernatural. That's it. Either we arise from natural processes, or we arise from MAGIC.

If you believe that the universe has laws and order, of which we are a part, does that mean that we're cartoon zombies who don't think or feel, and we just blindly move from one robotic task to the next? NO, BECAUSE THAT'S FUCKING STUPID.

What IS an automaton is each individual brain cell that makes up the processes of consciousness. None of them act against the laws of physics. And from them, something emerges which is us-- and it can think and make choices, and have free will. And we DON'T and might NEVER understand that.

But between point A (brain cells follow natural laws) and point B (humans have free will), there is NO MAGICAL INTERVENTION.

THEREFORE, how is human free will NOT a function of the laws of physics which govern the universe?

THEREFORE, what is free will? It is a vast web of winding pathways through a labyrinth of a million, billion choices and options that are reset every microsecond of time that passes. It's huge and incomprehensibly complex, because WE'RE the ones trying to explain ourselves TO ourselves. I don't think that's even theoretically possible. But if a being of more cognitive complexity than us viewed us through a microscope, don't you think he'd just see little bacteria swimming around, eating, drinking, fucking, writing novels, forming religions, and all the other basic little bacteria functions that we're doing? Does that mean we don't think, we don't have free will? Of course not, I'm thinking about this while I'm typing it. But MAGIC isn't how I did it, the laws of physics are. What I'm saying is that the idea of "magical free will, because we're special" is a belief that "feels right" and that's the only supporting evidence for it. A "feeling"

10-13-2019, 01:24 AM	#89
Flint Snowflake Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Dystopia Posts: 13,136	This is tedious. Look, there's more molecules in one teaspoon of brain cells than there are grains of sand on every beach in the world. We can't possibly understand or predict every chemical transaction they're making in even one microsecond of brain activity-- much less understand how this relates to consciousness, perception, or decision making. But there's only TWO options to explain what they're doing: #1: they're obeying the laws of physics, like every other object in the vastness of the universe, of which we're just a tiny, insignificant speck. Or #2: they're animated and organized by something special, something that defies the natural laws and therefore must be transcendent-- MUST be supernatural. That's it. Either we arise from natural processes, or we arise from MAGIC. If you believe that the universe has laws and order, of which we are a part, does that mean that we're cartoon zombies who don't think or feel, and we just blindly move from one robotic task to the next? NO, BECAUSE THAT'S FUCKING STUPID. What IS an automaton is each individual brain cell that makes up the processes of consciousness. None of them act against the laws of physics. And from them, something emerges which is us-- and it can think and make choices, and have free will. And we DON'T and might NEVER understand that. But between point A (brain cells follow natural laws) and point B (humans have free will), there is NO MAGICAL INTERVENTION. THEREFORE, how is human free will NOT a function of the laws of physics which govern the universe? THEREFORE, what is free will? It is a vast web of winding pathways through a labyrinth of a million, billion choices and options that are reset every microsecond of time that passes. It's huge and incomprehensibly complex, because WE'RE the ones trying to explain ourselves TO ourselves. I don't think that's even theoretically possible. But if a being of more cognitive complexity than us viewed us through a microscope, don't you think he'd just see little bacteria swimming around, eating, drinking, fucking, writing novels, forming religions, and all the other basic little bacteria functions that we're doing? Does that mean we don't think, we don't have free will? Of course not, I'm thinking about this while I'm typing it. But MAGIC isn't how I did it, the laws of physics are. What I'm saying is that the idea of "magical free will, because we're special" is a belief that "feels right" and that's the only supporting evidence for it. A "feeling" __________________ **************** There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio** Last edited by Flint; 10-13-2019 at 01:41 AM.