[FRIAM] freewill gedankenexperiment

[Jochen Fromm]

So your Kobayashi Maru test of free will says free will is the ability to decide which direction you want to move and the "meaning of life" is arriving at a certain destination. I would say the real problem is that you may have free will, but you do not know what you want if you do not listen to your emotions. The other ships on Earth are limited to the surface where they do not have this problem. They just follow the winds of emotions which tell them where to go.You have a modern spaceship which has warp drive. You can go wherever you want. The problem is you do not know the destination, and you do not know where the next Star Base is. You can visit some kind of oracle on Mars. The ancient Greek and the Chinese used oracles. Or you accidentally meet a fleet of other spaceships which are on the way to Star Base Theta. You join them which gives your life a meaning, a destination, but if you want to reach Star Base Theta you are not allowed to break the rules of Starfleet. If Starfleet ever arrives at the Star Base is unclear, but at least being part of Starfleet resolves the problem that you do not know what you want. As a member of Starfleet you want to reach Star Base Theta in the Altairian Sector now.-J.
-------- Original message --------From: Prof David West <profwest at fastmail.fm> Date: 6/18/20  07:23  (GMT+01:00) To: friam at redfish.com Subject: [FRIAM] freewill gedankenexperiment Imagine you are in a spaceship. You have a main thruster and two pairs of opposed lateral thrusters. All thrusters have limited fuel supplies, preventing perpetual use. Other than that, you may activate any thruster, alone or in combination for any duration up to the limit of the fuel supply.Call the ability to push buttons and fire thrusters at whim, with deliberation, accidentally, with intent, etc. "free will"with regard that/those act(s).Recognize that the outcome/consequence of your acts of freewill — i.e. a ship trajectory — is determined by the attitude, vector, momentum (embodied history or previous free will actions), and the gravitational influence of every other mass in the Universe. (Even if the influence is below a threshold of reasonable measurement,)Further recognize,  that for the outcome/consequence of your acts of freewill to have "meaning" — i.e. to ensure your arrival at Star Base Theta in the Altairian Sector — you need a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of celestial dynamics in order to take the right actions in the right degree at the right time.Now imagine yourself a homunculus sitting in a hidden recess of your cerebellum, surrounded by a 767's worth of buttons, switches, instruments, dials, and computer interfaces. You still have a "fuel constraint' but the degrees of freedom and the combinatorial explosion of possible acts/actions is immense.Call the ability to push buttons, flip switches, input computer commands, etc.; at whim, with deliberation, accidentally, with intent, etc. "free will" with regard that/those act(s).Recognize that the outcome/consequences of your acts of freewill — i.e. a "life trajectory" is determined by your state at the time of acting,  the embodied history of all previous acts, and the influence of all other entities (sentient or not, measurable or not) in your environment.Further recognize that for your life trajectory to have "meaning" — i.e. whatever set of states and circumstances that fit your idiosyncratic definition of 'the good life' — you need self-knowledge that exceeds even Socrates' ideal, awareness and understanding of culture, and probably comprehensive and intuitive understanding of Harry Seldon's Psychohistory.* * * * * * * * * * * Can useful questions, positions, conclusions be derived?davew- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listservZoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6  bit.ly/virtualfriamun/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.comarchives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ 
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