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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Greg or e who wrote (81966)	12/7/2009 10:56:28 PM
From: Solon	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Now don't get off track, please... I said: "Thought is a function of matter". Please understand what I was saying. ALL the evidence we have indicates that thought does not exist without electrical pulses impacting sensory input in some fashion. In terms of having a firm grasp of what ideas are grounded in, we are probably at the analogous level of ancients believing rain and sun, fortune and misfortune were caused by the caprice of myriad gods. But we have never yet seen matter produce a nothing...so thinking that thoughts/ideas as mapped in neurological electrical impulses are "nothing" is somewhat of a leap! But even if ideas were a NOTHING (no matter/vacuum/empty space--or any other such nothing)--it still would not speak to any evidence for unicorns or monkeys living in the clouds--or Zeus or Apollo or Yahweh. "It's also silly to jump from that position to the idea that we are free to act in ways that directly contradict the material cause and effect principal." I guess you misunderstood that, too. Even if our thought/Will cannot change a deterministic universe (meaning we are hapless and helpless) it would still be possible and sensible for us to believe the opposite. Because survival of an intelligent species depends to a large extent on the civilized concepts of responsibility and accountability. These are only possible if we posit free will. So we ought to posit free will whether we believe in it or not. Because survival is an overriding principle...far more overriding than truth. Besides, I discovered the proof of free will several years ago but it escaped before I could set it down to paper. With any luck I will be able to dredge it up again...