Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

   After-thought Assessment

Dr. Carter seemed willing to believe in Free Will and in After-Life. But he was unable to believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. So, he wasn’t lacking in motivation, as some might assume. Therefore, his failure of Faith must be due to lack of Freedom. But, it could also be due to over-reasoning an intuition. Most non-philosophers act as-if they are free to do as they please, within limits. And, if your experience allows you to believe you are free, who’s to say you’re not?

  Post 122.  January 29, 2022 continued . . .

  Unscripted Free Will

  Afterthoughts and End Notes 4

 These are some marginal notes to Self while reading the book by Peter Carter. They are my own thoughts regarding topics he mentions in his text.

• Holism vs Reductionism :
“You. Your joys and sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.”  ___Francis Crick

Crick is talking about your subconscious emotions, which are pre-programmed and automatic. We don’t have to think about them – just feel them. However, your own “more than” is the conscious reasons, which you carefully selected, from an array of options, to find the ones that suit your Self.
I am more than19  the body, running on autopilot. Instead, I am the Captain of the vessel. I am the decider-in-chief. But only in an emergency do I have to give orders to the well-trained crew to avert disaster, or to change course to a new destination.

• Role in Life :
“The mind is a kind of theatre . . .” ___David Hume

Unlike stage actors, with a script, freewill agents are ad-libbing their roles, by reacting to the changing scenario. The playwright merely places characters in a situation, then allows them to improvise 20 and extemporize, based on each character’s individual traits. We learn bits about the other characters, and about the plot, by inter-acting. The playwright has left us free to create a unique role for ourselves.

• Teleology :
“There is no teleology involved, genes don’t go about their business with any pre-set goal.” ___Richard Dawkins

Teleology 21 is not in the parts (genes), but in the whole system (Self or Universe). Genes are like hired hands to execute the plans of the visionary planner. Dawkins was thinking reductively instead of holistically.

• Free Won’t :
“Is consciousness nothing more than taking notes and reporting to your self what has happened to you and because of you? . . . . The time delay gives me the opportunity to change a thought, to cancel an action – and this gives us, in effect, free won’t.” ___reference to the Libet experiment

Voluntary22 actions have a prep-time. A period of imagining before acting. A computer acts faster than a human, but there is always a delay between “readiness potential” and “action signal”. Consciousness of intention is not a physical act, but merely a choice to proceed in a particular direction.

• Under-Natural :
“If we are looking for a super-natural domain . . . At the border of knowledge . . . In Quantum wonderland we see things happening at the edge of unbelievable.”

The quantum scale realm of reality is not super-natural, but it does seem to be on the fuzzy borderline between Natural and Extra-mundane23. For example, physicists have to use mathematical metaphors, such as “fields” of “virtual” particles, to describe what they imagine.

                Blog Post 122 continued  . . .

19. Holism :
In systems theory, the whole is “more than” the sum of its parts. Due to its enhanced internal structure of inter-relation-ships It has novel emergent properties & abilities that are not found in its sub-components.

20. Improvisation :
The meaning (story) of a life could be assigned by a Director, or could be created by an Actor, who is free to create his own Self image, within the constraints of the stage setting.

21. Teleology :
   Philosophical term derived from Greek: telos (end, goal, purpose, design, finality) and logos (reason, explanation). Philosophers, from Aristotle onward, assumed that every-thing in the world has a purpose and a place in the scheme of history. But Thinking Things can imagine a future trajectory for its own self-image (character).

 22. Voluntary vs Veto :
Michael Shermer explained the Libet experiment as proof of “free won’t” (executive veto) but not as disproof of Free Will.
https://michaelshermer.com/sciam-columns/free-wont/

23. Extra-Mundane :
Beyond the tangible realm of the physical senses, but not outside the scope of the rational sense of inference. To avoid the polarizing inter-pretations of “supernatural”, we may refer to the Quantum foundation of reality as “Under-Natural”. It’s literally absurd & abnormal, but not a realm of monsters & demons.

The Single Simple Question
That challenges All Convictions

Peter Carter MD

Primary Care Physician

“Connecting the conundrums of God and Immortality, Free Will, the Strange Reality of Quantum Physics, and Finding Purpose in Existence”.

Passive
Role Player

ENFORMATIONISM