resurrecting a 2002 thread that posits an alternative lineage for Sev

Gerry Quinn · 09 Oct 2014, 13:48 · from 2014-October.txt.gz

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From: gerry at bindweed.com (Gerry Quinn)
Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 14:48:10 +0100
Subject: (urth) resurrecting a 2002 thread that posits an alternative
 lineage for Sev
In-Reply-To: <BLU175-W3843E85195195E1669C4AFCFA20 at phx.gbl>
References: <BLU175-W3843E85195195E1669C4AFCFA20 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <5436921A.5070703 at bindweed.com>

On 07/10/2014 14:58, Lee wrote:
> I'd add to that the paradox of Free Will. How can an all-powerful, 
> all-knowing Creator construct every molecule of a human being and 
> claim to not know what that human being will do when faced with 
> temptation?

Does He claim that?

> I am not at all religious myself. But I know Gene Wolfe is. So when I 
> enter his worlds and try to understand them, unlike the real world, I 
> have to become something of a Christian and take leaps of faith and 
> accept essential contradictions and otherwise become a bit religious. 
> I think that is necessary when you are trying to understand a 
> fictionally created world. Intent and meaning become more important 
> than logic and science. For the natural world, I think science works 
> better.

The same problem arises in science.  As far as we know scientifically, a 
robot with a computer brain could - and perhaps soon will - be 
manufactured.  This robot may have a determinate programming, such that 
we can predict by simulation how he will respond to any stimulus.  Yet 
we know of no 'scientific' reason why he should not have free will just 
as much as we do.

[You could put a random number generator based on quantum decisions in 
his brain to make him sometimes unpredictable on principle.  But making 
him act erratically for no good reason hardly enhances his free will!]

See also Newcomb's Paradox.

- Gerry Quinn

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