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So random then.Since the most straightforward way all the commandments in scripture make any sense is if we are actually able to make choices, aka "free will", then it must be we are not predetermined. Our choices not already fixed ahead of time. Ergo, unpredictable in an absolute sense.
Well... no. Monkeys and other primates can and often do walk upright on two legs:This is different from the idea that a monkey can start to walk like a man because the spine of a monkey won't allow it, whereas man started with a curve and walked at the same time.
Ah, I didn't mean to say we are essentially random acting (as if just rolling dice). Heh heh. Rather, if on the physical side, there is true randomness in particle behavior (but still obeying typically precise laws of probability of course), then for the purpose of speaking about consciousness that does suggest 1 important implication: that ourselves and our environment wouldn't be fully predetermined -- fated -- not in a fully deterministic clockwork universe where all events in the future are already set and unalterable. That's a long way from figuring out out much more about how our consciousness arises.So random then.
One wonders how that counts as a willed 'choice'.
Proverbs 16:33
The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the Lord.
True, but if you're talking about free will, adding randomness to determinism doesn't seem to help. I suspect the answer will be fully deterministic, like some QM formulations, i.e. no 'true' randomness.Ah, I didn't mean to say we are essentially random acting (as if just rolling dice). Heh heh. Rather, if on the physical side, there is true randomness in particle behavior (but still obeying typically precise laws of probability of course), then for the purpose of speaking about consciousness that does suggest 1 important implication: that ourselves and our environment wouldn't be fully predetermined -- fated -- not in a fully deterministic clockwork universe where all events in the future are already set and unalterable.
I suspect QM is involved in the same way it's involved in all other processes, biological or otherwise. From what I can see, consciousness is a set of interacting brain process - and we'll eventually discover how it works, at least to the extent of being able to say, 'when these particular networks are interacting in those particular ways under those particular conditions, the system will have (or display) the main attributes of consciousness'.That's a long way from figuring out out much more about how our consciousness arises.heh heh If someone figures out more of the mystery of consciousness in a way that isn't only another of dozens of hypotheses that will end up as only another entry in the tall pile on the dusty shelf, that'd be something. Atm, I'm interested lately in thinking/learning more about how QM might be involved.
Did someone mention QM?True, but if you're talking about free will, adding randomness to determinism doesn't seem to help. I suspect the answer will be fully deterministic, like some QM formulations, i.e. no 'true' randomness.
I suspect QM is involved in the same way it's involved in all other processes, biological or otherwise. From what I can see, consciousness is a set of interacting brain process - and we'll eventually discover how it works, at least to the extent of being able to say, 'when these particular networks are interacting in those particular ways under those particular conditions, the system will have (or display) the main attributes of consciousness'.
Where did you get those photos of my flat mates from?Well... no. Monkeys and other primates can and often do walk upright on two legs:
I'm not so pessimistic - there's plenty more to learn about QM, but I agree that, ultimately, we'll probably reach a Douglas Adams situation where we can only say that the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything, is an unvisualisable mathematical formalism that tells us how the fundamental 'stuff' behaves. We won't be able to say what that 'stuff' is, because it's not made of anything more fundamental, i.e. it's what everything else is 'made of'.I think by now, we can safely assume, that answers to the bigger questions in life. Are well beyond the scope of mankind's inquiry. The last fifty years of scientific endeavor have shown us and beyond any doubt. That the complexity and scale of the universe, are far beyond our ability to comprehend.
QM will be impossible to unravel.
What is God creating in Proverbs 16
I think the Bible records a creation mythology from a time before people had a clue about the history of life on earth. In this respect its the same as all the other ancient creation mythologies.There is not any indication from the Bible that working by chance or randomness is a way God creates....
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