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Could the very existence of the brain be deterministic?

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Mootoo
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19 Aug 2012, 2:38 pm

The function of the physical brain is to map out our world, effectively... there are connections within and and others that, if damaged, may not be re-established. That essentially posits that the way we interact with the environment is limited in the future, thereafter - even if it was possible in the past.

Doesn't that indicate that free will is inextricably linked to the machinations of the brain? That we only have as much choice as our brain allows?



ruveyn
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19 Aug 2012, 6:11 pm

Mootoo wrote:
The function of the physical brain is to map out our world, effectively... there are connections within and and others that, if damaged, may not be re-established. That essentially posits that the way we interact with the environment is limited in the future, thereafter - even if it was possible in the past.

Doesn't that indicate that free will is inextricably linked to the machinations of the brain? That we only have as much choice as our brain allows?


That sounds right.

We are meat machines and the brain is the control box and auto-pilot.

ruveyn



Ancalagon
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19 Aug 2012, 9:37 pm

I think you might be taking the limitations of the brain a bit too literally. (Although I might be misreading what you said.)

The mind is what the brain does, and the mind is what matters. Individual connections between neurons aren't particularly important. Frequently, if some part of the brain is damaged, other parts of the brain can adjust and pick up the slack.


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roronoa79
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19 Aug 2012, 10:17 pm

It would link free will to the brain, if free will existed.


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