[FRIAM] Hard problem vs. free swill

[Prof David West]

Jon,

Not sure how Nick would respond, but it seems that your question assumes that evolution has some sort of "discrimination" that would allow it to choose between two or more different adaptational-complexes that have the same or closely comparable outcomes. We have consciousness and a sense of agency because it just happened that way, not because something decided it was necessary.

davew


On Fri, Jul 3, 2020, at 8:25 AM, Jon Zingale wrote:
> Nick,
> 
> Granted determinism, how might an evolutionary theorist or ethologist
> approach the question of why we have the illusion of free will at all? It
> seems to me that evolutionary theory can describe a deterministic history
> just fine, but then I am unsure why we would ever need to develop a sense of
> consciousness or a sense of agency. Couldn't nature find a way to have us do
> the same without the added expense of reflected experience?
> 
> 
> 
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