Free Will (The nature of a \'Creator\')

by David Turell , Thursday, September 15, 2011, 01:48 (4817 days ago) @ dhw


> 1)	Nature and/or the situation
> 2)	Factors connected with the decision-making process itself (e.g. our own genetic make-up)
> 
> Clearly the article links up with the second of these, which of course is the one that causes all the problems. If the source of consciousness ... and of the will which we think is able to direct consciousness ... is indeed the cells of the brain, could we not argue that those cells themselves are "given constraints" over which we have no control, and so ultimately there is no free will since no decision can be independent of those cells? -We don't know what we do know and also what we don't know. Note my previous comment about parallel circuits in the brain. The brain is an extremely complex computer and even if we have rough ideas about each area of control, there are underlying interactions going on that confuse interpretations. If a thought brings anger, for example, adrenalin is released and that affects every cell in the body.- 
> I don't see how these experiments can differentiate between electrical impulses creating thoughts and electrical impulses responding to and conveying thoughts. If there is a self (I think we need to consider identity as well as will) which somehow transcends its physical container, all its thoughts would need to be translated into physical impulses for them to be given physical expression ... e.g. through language, gesture, action. Can neuroscience be precise enough to make such a distinction?-No it can't. These button experiments are studying impulses in the motor strips of the brain. In mapping the brain, there is a little person outline on each strip. It is that exact. So your finger moves seemingly too long after the impulse. What does that really prove? Thinking and decision making is also preceding the movement. Does that have a delaying effect on the impulse? We don't know. My attitude is that I have free will, electrical effects prove nothing, and I'm with the philosophers, the best thinkers on Earth. Some little brains think too much. (Angels on the head of the pin and so forth)