Brit Girls - Fat

[the village idiot]

7 minutes ago, WesD said:

Going with the 2 buttons theme wouldn’t most people press the button on their dominant side ie left handers left button right handers right button?

I think the two buttons were next to each other, operated by the same hand. But even if they weren't, the experiment was conducted several times with each subject.

[the village idiot]

Another good example which seriously calls into question the existence of free will is the case of Charles Whitman.

 

In the 1960's Whitman shot his girlfriend and mother before climbing the clock tower at a nearby university and shooting at students, killing 14. What an evil bar steward you would no doubt think?

 

The story gets more intriguing when you consider his suicide note in which he claimed to love his partner and his Mum, and he couldn't fathom why he was prone to huge aggressive outbursts and very violent behaviour. He asked for his brain to be autopsied after his death to see if they could find anything wrong.

 

The autopsy was carried out and they found a golf ball sized tumour pressing on his amigdula in his brain. The amigdula is an old part of the brain heavily involved in aggression and emotional response. A tumour in this area easily explains away his awful actions.

 

So now you have to ask yourself who was to blame, Charles Whitman or the brain tumour. Without the brain tumour he would't have done it. He had no control over the tumour, he didn't know it was there.

 

The telling point here is that all aspects of our brain development and it's neural firings resulting in our actions are exactly analogous to that brain tumour. We don't pick any of it! 

 

Are we truly responsible for our actions?

[Stubby]

2 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

Another good example which seriously calls into question the existence of free will is the case of Charles Whitman.

 

In the 1960's Whitman shot his girlfriend and mother before climbing the clock tower at a nearby university and shooting at students, killing 14. What an evil bar steward you would no doubt think?

 

The story gets more intriguing when you consider his suicide note in which he claimed to love his partner and his Mum, and he couldn't fathom why he was prone to huge aggressive outbursts and very violent behaviour. He asked for his brain to be autopsied after his death to see if they could find anything wrong.

 

The autopsy was carried out and they found a golf ball sized tumour pressing on his amigdula in his brain. The amigdula is an old part of the brain heavily involved in aggression and emotional response. A tumour in this area easily explains away his awful actions.

 

So now you have to ask yourself who was to blame, Charles Whitman or the brain tumour. Without the brain tumour he would't have done it. He had no control over the tumour, he didn't know it was there.

 

The telling point here is that all aspects of our brain development and it's neural firings resulting in our actions are exactly analogous to that brain tumour. We don't pick any of it! 

 

Are we truly responsible for our actions?

And that's why it takes so long to get up in the mornigs what would you rather do or go fishing .

[WesD]

2 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

Another good example which seriously calls into question the existence of free will is the case of Charles Whitman.

 

In the 1960's Whitman shot his girlfriend and mother before climbing the clock tower at a nearby university and shooting at students, killing 14. What an evil bar steward you would no doubt think?

 

The story gets more intriguing when you consider his suicide note in which he claimed to love his partner and his Mum, and he couldn't fathom why he was prone to huge aggressive outbursts and very violent behaviour. He asked for his brain to be autopsied after his death to see if they could find anything wrong.

 

The autopsy was carried out and they found a golf ball sized tumour pressing on his amigdula in his brain. The amigdula is an old part of the brain heavily involved in aggression and emotional response. A tumour in this area easily explains away his awful actions.

 

So now you have to ask yourself who was to blame, Charles Whitman or the brain tumour. Without the brain tumour he would't have done it. He had no control over the tumour, he didn't know it was there.

 

The telling point here is that all aspects of our brain development and it's neural firings resulting in our actions are exactly analogous to that brain tumour. We don't pick any of it! 

 

Are we truly responsible for our actions?

Surely the suicide note was a preemptive measure and although I believe what you say is part correct surely knowing he had the rages and knowing he couldn’t control them or guide them away from creating danger he could have used the same free will in writing the note to just top himself before a rage kicked off?

[the village idiot]

1 minute ago, WesD said:

Surely the suicide note was a preemptive measure and although I believe what you say is part correct surely knowing he had the rages and knowing he couldn’t control them or guide them away from creating danger he could have used the same free will in writing the note to just top himself before a rage kicked off?

He didn't have free will to write the note or kill the people or to do anything else.

[Mortimer Firewood]

From the most judgmental thread comes one that really fascinates me. 

Love how arbtalk can turn things around. 

Right im off to the boozer I'll tell the Mrs it ain't my fault.

[AHPP]

There's a quite short book (50 pages or so?) by Sam Harris that goes through most of the free will arguments and concludes that we don't have free will. It's a good read. The arguments seem pretty logical but it's impractical having nobody to blame when things go wrong.

[matelot]

I'm chuffed as well. It turns out it's not my fault I'm so racist

[Mortimer Firewood]

Just now, matelot said:

I'm chuffed as well. It turns out it's not my fault I'm so racist

What about been a tosser it does come naturally to you.

Its a shame as some of your posts I agree with but then read stuff like that and think what a shame. 

[the village idiot]

5 minutes ago, AHPP said:

There's a quite short book (50 pages or so?) by Sam Harris that goes through most of the free will arguments and concludes that we don't have free will. It's a good read. The arguments seem pretty logical but it's impractical having nobody to blame when things go wrong.

It could potentially be impractical having nobody to blame. Some scientists and thinkers who are convinced that the notion of free will is an illusion never the less argue that we should continue our lives believing that it is real.

 

I have some sympathy for this stance, but at the same time, see no logical problem with blaming the brain and then taking steps to impregnate it with information (and in the future-technology) to increase the chances of a favourable outcome in the future.