timmah said:
@BOLD, there lies the problem, and why this goes nowhere (you already know the only true answer to every question you pose, and that's it). The Bible is very clear that we are free, and we are responsible for our actions. I don't believe in predetermination due to this. The question is, what does God know, and how? I've postulated a scenario where He may be able to appear to foreknow events if He views time differently than us, while possibly leaving choice intact (again, theory). I've also stated that if Time is fixed to Him as you suggest, then Omniscience would not have to include certain knowledge of the future (not 'retarding' the definition at all if you actually bothered to read the link I posted). Omnisciense as a concept can include discussions of (as I stated) inherent vs total omniscience, and whether to include Anterograde omniscience (future). I'm not retarding anything by stating that. You keep saying time is irrelevant even though the concept of time and timelessness is a core part of many philosophical and theological theories & discussions on the topic. You clearly know your side of this topic and nothing else. |
From an ethical point of view, what would be the difference between "real" free will and agents in a deterministic world that merely thought they had free will?
Let's say I have a lot of money and time and knowledge and I build the matrix and start it. Simulated conscious agents in that simulation act deterministically from my point of view, but make "free" ethical choices in their limited universe. In their universe they can help charity institutions or commit genocide. As such I can tag them as "good" or "evil" in the matrix sense according to a predefined ethical standard I stipulated.
So if everything I care about is such standard, tagging them is possible. And actually, even in a purely material, deterministic world this might be the only definition of ethical choices that makes sense from inside.
The point is that nobody ever experienced free will in its widest sense, and according to physics as we know it there is no such thing. So we must live with what we have: an impression of free will and an ethic system that works on similar, partially unknown states of the universe.
