[FRIAM] alternative response

[thompnickson2 at gmail.com]

Dear Splatterers,

And what commitments did we make when we all agreed to play the "game"
game??  I think Glen will say (has said?) a commitment to non-commitment, to
not taking our ideas TOO seriously, or perhaps, seriously at all.  But I
think the game metaphor fails just because actual games can take on only
those implications that we care to give them whereas "games" like the "free
will game" have negative consequences both in the field of psychology and in
our every day lives.  For one thing, the "free will" game is the key to a
lot of vengeance.   Now Bruce and Frank, with their transcendentalist
leanings, might say that the idea of free will, of a private place from
which all our decisions as humans come that is ineffably and essentially our
own and dignifies our actions as humans, is essential to the respect we show
one another.  To deny it is to deny our humanity.   Well, I deny it.  In the
first place, I don't find humans to be all that special.  

I still have yet to understand Glen's idea of free will, which, on his last
account, seemed to involve an application of the notion of levels of
organization, which, as a student of natural design, I found very tempting,
even as I didn't understand it. 

Got to find that post.  

Nick 

Nicholas Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
Clark University
ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com
https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
 


-----Original Message-----
From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Jon Zingale
Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2020 10:28 AM
To: friam at redfish.com
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] alternative response

Well said, Glen. From what I glean from Marcus' comment, understanding
another's commitments helps to prevent a game of Monopoly from deteriorating
into a squabble over the meaning of money or property, or a game of poker
from deteriorating into a squabble over the atomic structure of a playing
card. That the dungeon master relies on magic to settle questions of physics
is a commitment we make to the game.



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