Through the Wormhole on Free Will

[From Rick Marken (2013.07.18.1515)]

Next Wednesday, July 24th, there will be a show exploring the question of “Free Will” on a series called Through the Wormhole on the Science Channel. I don’t ordinarily watch that show but Dennis Shaffer, the fellow with whom I’ve been doing object interception research, mentioned it to me because apparently he will be on it. I have no idea why Dennis would be on a show about Free Will (if he is on it, he’ll be tossing a Frisbee to dog, who apparently has no free will regarding whether or not it will run to chase it) but the show might be of interest to PCTers since, as Bill Powers said somewhere, free will is “the last chapter in a book that hasn’t been written yet”. I actually think that book has been written: it’s B:CP and I don’t think it’s possible to talk coherently about free will without knowing how willing (purposeful behavior) works!

So check out the show; it’s probably not very good but it might get some interesting discussion going.

Again, the show is “Through the Wormhole” on the Science channel at sometime (I think it’s 10:00 here on the left coast) on Wednesday, July 24.

Best

Rick

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Richard S. Marken PhD
rsmarken@gmail.com
www.mindreadings.com

[From Rupert Young (2013.07.20 1215)]

A topic dear to my heart! I won't be able to watch it, but as it happens I am in the process of writing an article about free will, and do refer to purposive behaviour. I'll post it when done, in a few weeks.
Regards,
Rupert

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On 18/07/2013 23:15, Richard Marken wrote:

[From Rick Marken (2013.07.18.1515)]

Next Wednesday, July 24th, there will be a show exploring the question of "Free Will" on a series called Through the Wormhole on the Science Channel. I don't ordinarily watch that show but Dennis Shaffer, the fellow with whom I've been doing object interception research, mentioned it to me because apparently he will be on it. I have no idea why Dennis would be on a show about Free Will (if he is on it, he'll be tossing a Frisbee to dog, who apparently has no free will regarding whether or not it will run to chase it) but the show might be of interest to PCTers since, as Bill Powers said somewhere, free will is "the last chapter in a book that hasn't been written yet". I actually think that book has been written: it's B:CP and I don't think it's possible to talk coherently about free will without knowing how willing (purposeful behavior) works!

So check out the show; it's probably not very good but it might get some interesting discussion going.

Again, the show is "Through the Wormhole" on the Science channel at sometime (I think it's 10:00 here on the left coast) on Wednesday, July 24.

Best

Rick

--
Richard S. Marken PhD
<mailto:rsmarken@gmail.com>> rsmarken@gmail.com
<http://www.mindreadings.com>> www.mindreadings.com

[From Rick Marken (2013.07.25.1110)]

Did anyone see Through the Wormhole on “Is there free will” last night? If not, I highly recommend it, not so much because it is good (I don’t particularly like shows that do overwrought, breathless presentations of science) but because it will make clear what PCT is up against. Every researcher featured on the show – from psychologists to Nobel prize winning physicists (so much for the wisdom of the “hard” sciences, regarding the behavior of living things, anyway) – took it for granted that behavior is controlled (or caused) output. If you haven’t seen it I’m sure they will replay it soon. It’s on the Science Channel and it’s easy to find if you have a DVR with a search function.

The show was also fun for me because I am personally acquainted with two of the featured scientists: Dennis Shaffer (who describes some of his research on object interception that we worked on together; although he doesn’t quite get that it’s perception, not output, that is controlled, he’s a really nice guy and does very nifty research) and Mike Gazzaniga (who was a friend of my adviser in grad school).

If anyone did see it, I’d like to hear your thoughts about it. Free will is kind of a fun topic and I’d be interested to hear what you think PCT has to say about it.

Best regards

Rick

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Richard S. Marken PhD
rsmarken@gmail.com
www.mindreadings.com