Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by shabeyyub 3222 days ago
Isn't free will a non-deterministic thing? NTM, DNC etc. are very promising but at the end they are programs runned by a Turing Machine. Are free will/consciousness computable? this is the real question IMO.
1 comments

Isn't free will a non-deterministic thing?

Whoo boy not sure that's a good rabbit hole to go down. If you're unfamiliar with compatibilism I'd suggest you check it out. I think hard determinism gives the most reasonable answer here with a resounding no.

As to the question of consciousness, it is yet to be well defined, with no possiblity to test (because of eg Qualia) so by definition you'd never verify or not. At most you'd recognize what you perceive as consciousness based on how you perceive other entities which you believe have it.