> >> I don't believe in free will. What I feel as "new ideas" and "decisions" are
> >> memes/ideas associating and competing in my brain. All my thoughts, even
> >> those I used to think were "original", can be explained by memetic/cognitive
> >> interactions like:-
> >
> >I hope you don't have this meme then [I do!]:
> >"If I have no free will, then I am completely, totally irrational."
>
> That meme is a strong part of my make-up. I'm convinced that thinking
> organisms will evolve with memes that confer a comfort/reproductive benefit
> on them FIRST, and a mental reflection of reality a very poor SECOND.
>
> If memes are competitive entities, vying for control of neural resource,
> then that's not a "rational" way for thoughts to be processed. Any old
> irrational thought can conceivably gain a massive upper hand in control of
> any number of brains, because it happens to agree with incumbent memes, and
> with evidence available to those brains at that time.
>
> The big problem for me then is how to explain APPARENTLY rational thinking
> in these irrational computing devices which we call people. Well... I reckon
> that memes under increasingly severe/rigorous selection pressures (such as
> those subject to application of Scientific Method) tend towards appearing to
> be processed rationally. I'm struggling to explain this ATM... any ideas
> for/against from anyone else?
I see. We're going at epistemology from different angles.
> >Since I "happen" [sic] to abhor the conclusion, I deny the premise.
>
> Woah. THAT's not very rational, is it? (Didn't mean that too aggressively).
> Yup, it's a complete bastard as far as I can see, and it also means I don't
> actually think human beings will EVER know The Truth.
Welcome to (virtual) Reality.
Information lacks the ability to be reasoned with. Data is even more
lacking, since it missed out on what interpretation was.
[CLIP]
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/ Towards the conversion of data into information....
/
/ Kenneth Boyd
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