I realised most of you cannot access the article so for those who would be interested I decided to post it as a PDF file :)
Ps: actually just checked it looks like in doesn't want to work when I try to open in here though so if it does for you too just post your email and I'll send it to you.
I have no problem reading the article. One does need to have Adobe Reader installed to read it.
I think the article proposes nothing terribly new. It does not surprise me that the brain may undergo activity prior to one's making a decision. The whole argument seems irrelevant to the idea of free will.
We know, without question, that the mind is not a computable function...
http://www.leaderu.com/truth/2truth08.html
WJ: "Does this setting up of scenarios not involve brain activity?"
The article certainly suggests that preparing for a decision may involve more intense brain activity than is involved in making a decision.
Bill "We know without question that the Mind is not a computable function"
We do, do we? I would like to question that.... ;)
The fact is that the "Free Will" faction has had its own way for a long period of time, and is disgruntled that there might be any negative discussion of what is derigor in their minds.
All I am going to do is keep repeating, if the model is wrong, the model is wrong, why insist on using it? Of Course we have to study how wrong it is, (If only to prove me wrong) but at some point philosophy is going to have to come to grips with the fact that it has been following the garden path for too long, and got lost. No biggie, just split into camps and debate the heck out of it, and declare one a winner and everyone is happy afterwards.
But we need to OPEN the debate to neuroscience instead of dismissing them out of hand. Who is with me on the "Free Won't" Camp?
GS: "We do, do we? I would like to question that.... "
Question it all you want. You should take into consideration Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems.
I would grant the possibility that an analog network of sufficient complexity might be able to approximate the mind in some sense. I would, however, stress the words 'analog' and 'approximate.' For there are in theory --- and I stress the word 'theory' --- super-Turing machines...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super-Turing
But in any event, they are not computable functions.
I'm wondering... has anyone actually built a super-Turing machine that does anything useful?
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