Question about free will.

[miz1q2w3e]

badgenome said:

miz1q2w3e said:

That's simply not true, or at the very least you can't be certain they aren't. I've seen and read my share of presentational videos and articles, studies have been done on the subject, look some up if your interested. @learning & instinct: How is that so different from humans? We're basically the same but on a higher/more complex level.

@second sentence: Why the "theoretical"? It isn't that complicated to create a computer program that adjusted itself based on external factors. You say self-programming but I never claimed that. Building one that was able to emulate what the human brain does, although complicated, is certainly NOT impossible.

Either way, what's you point? The examples you mentioned aren't on the same level as humans, but that doesn't have much to do with the hypothetical at hand.

Humans can think about how things "ought" to be, whereas there's absolutely no evidence that animals are even remotely capable of making anything like a value judgment. For one thing, even if they were smart enough, they fundamentally lack the ability of detachment. Everything an animal does is in pursuit of its own survival or comfort, or the survival of the pack/species, and it can never deviate from that. A person, on the other hand, can live a life of selflessness and altruism because he believes that's the way he should live - even though doing so is completely antithetical to selfish human nature.

I say "theoretical" because while you say it's possible to make one, and theoretically it is, if there is a computer as complex and byzantine as the human mind, I've never heard of it.

@First paragraph: like I said, maybe you should try checking some stuff out if you want/are interested. For example: link

@Second paragraph: Yeah ok, theoretical was appropriate. I thought you meant it in a sarcastic way.

So what's your take on the OP's hypo? I think I misunderstood part of the OP, but either way I'm in the deterministic camp.