Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by theprotocol 2755 days ago
I'm probably gonna get downvotes for appearing to bask in this attention (which I didn't expect).

In this case it's based on a heuristic. I can't at all model human will so it seems reasonable to start with it as infinite (since it's so vast and appears virtually limitless, the very reason I can't model it in the first place) and model in the constraints.

edit: also, I am a Christian and that probably factors into my view subconsciously, although I am certain many non-Christian views would arrive to the same conclusion.

1 comments

I suspect there's no definition of free will that isn't at least implicitly religious. It seems to me that what most people want free will to be is supernatural - something like a soul that would exempt their identity from being bound to a purely physical universe.
Jansenism emphasized on predestination and is unique in being contrary to all the religions using free will for an alternative expression. Thought it might be worth mentioning because someone might find it interesting.