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syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
Last edited:
Kevin

Kevin

Turbo Monkey
Sep 6, 2004
4,540
1,007
In Holland sticking my finger in a dike...
syadasti said:
This is related and shows the simplest physical example - tumors (rather than other alternatives like genes alone or complex environmental/development aspects). Free-will and self-made is an illusion facilitated by a complex world which control/program your path.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2943-brain-tumour-causes-uncontrollable-paedophilia.html
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Even though this example is mentioned in the lecture, it goes much further then these kinds of biological flukes. (i know you understand this Josh, just pointing it out for iridemtb). The genetic make up of your brains as well as your experiances in life determine how you act in certain situations. It has nothing to do with choice but rather every decision you make or thought that you have is either pre set and/or determined by chance.
Like Harris says, youre very unlucky if you have a brain that makes you a serial killer but youre no more responsible for it then you would be for being tall or blond.

This has great consequences on how we think about morality, if someone cannot be held personally responsible for what he thinks, how can we hold him responsible for what he does if he has no control over it.
This doesnt mean we should let serial killers go off the hook but it would change the whole paradigm on which the current system is based.
If we fully understand this it would actually raise empathy and reduce crimes motivated by revenge.

It also undermines the very fundamentals of religion. If man can not be held accountable for his actions, how are we born with original sin? Why would we have to be punished for eternity in hell if we arent in control of what we think or do?
Religion is perhaps one of the greatest obstacles that we face in our time as a developing species, and this is a great tool to battle this medevil superstition.

Harris doesnt mention this in his lecture, but i think this also makes a very good case for strong AI in computers and the fact that our brains are probably nothing more then extremely sophisticated pieces of hardware.
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
Dick owner, meet dick cop.

I was walking around Soho, NYC today when I stumbled upon this Ferrari 458 Spider with a cop writing a ticket next to it. I started to record the situation because I thought it'd make a cool video, little did I know what I was in for. As soon as I started recording the owner of the car appeared and got in it. He slowly started moving since he refused to accept the ticket (the car was parked in a hotels valet zone and the hotel valet had the keys, I myself don't understand why the cop was giving him the ticket, it was approved by the hotel that the car was parked there.) The cop then told him to stop but he proceeded to move forward. Now at this point I believe the cops foot was under the front drivers side tire. Yet again the owner moved the car forward and apparently he somewhat ran over the cops foot (or at least that's what can be made out from everything in the video, others at the scene claimed otherwise.) This triggered the cop and he slammed his hand into the drivers window and proceed to open the door (notice how many times he bumped it into the taxi cab) and pull the driver out forcefully. The driver was then thrown on the ground and handcuffed and arrested. The owners girlfriend seen in the video is also Stephanie Pratt from the MTV hit show, The Hills. The car did suffer some damage, paint chips on the door from when the cop slammed it into the cab and some scuffs by the engine bay shown in the last scene of this video. Pretty crazy situation, I was definitely at the right place at the right time!
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