In his book Determined, the biologist Robert Sapolsky presents his case against free will, arguing that because our actions are fully determined by what’s happening in our brains, genes, and environment in the seconds, minutes, and years beforehand, there’s no room for any separate “I” to play a role. As I’ve written about before, this …
On the surface, Rocks, Paper, Scissors (RPS) is among the simplest games. Each player chooses from among only three options, with clear (and even) rules about how different options win, lose, or tie. However, this simplicity doesn’t make the game easy to win. To determine the best approach, you need to think not only about …
The other night, the championship game for my rec basketball league got fairly heated, and during a play late in the game I reacted in a less than ideal way. One of the more talkative players on the other team and I were both chasing down a loose ball, and as I grabbed it his …
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. Mother Night What does it mean to be authentic? A quick Google search on the question shows a standard definition of “being true to your own personality”. This framing suggests that we have a “core” personality, and …
In Repugnant Intuitions, I took a look at Derek Parfit’s Repugnant Conclusion through the lens of behavioral science. The Repugnant Conclusion states that: For any possible population of at least ten billion people, all with a very high quality of life, there must be some much larger imaginable population whose existence, if other things are …
Recently, while walking through a cemetery, I came across the gravestone pictured below. Initially, I only glanced at it and walked past, but I turned around after attempting to reconcile Anne’s motherhood with her young age. Upon further inspection, I realized that Anne had been fifty-seven when she passed, not five, and that her motherhood …
I remember marveling as a child at the fact that each word used in the dictionary was also defined in that same dictionary. At the time, it seemed like one could learn English (or any other language) simply by taking each word and looking up all the words used in the definition, then all the …
If you make yourself really small, you can externalize virtually everything. Daniel Dennett Dennett’s quote is a favorite of mine, as it seems to capture much of the nuance of the free will discussion in just a few words. As a proponent of “free will” (at least of the type of free will that he …
A friend recently shared The Brain on Trial, an article by David Eagleman, and I found it to raise some interesting questions in the domains of criminal sentencing and agency. Eagleman also wades into the realm of “free will”, but the treatment seems to be only surface-level (at least from a philosophical standpoint) and not …
It’s interesting how difficult it can be to go on a diet. One can be fully set on the idea, ready to eat less and watch the pounds come off, and yet still fail to avoid that second helping of dinner or the ice cream for dessert. What happens in these situations when we fail …
Derek Parfit’s Repugnant Conclusion has long been a focus area in the field of population ethics, as it seems to imply counterintuitive (or repugnant) tradeoffs when taking a utilitarian view. As Parfit states it, the Repugnant Conclusion suggests that: “For any possible population of at least ten billion people, all with a very high quality …
In “The Absurdity of Free Will”, Hugo argues that we do not have free will, as conventionally understood. The basic premise is as follows: The universe is either deterministic (can be calculated) or indeterministic (random) If the universe is deterministic, then there’s no room for us to influence it If the universe is indeterministic, then …
Free will sits among the most explored philosophical topics (among other giants like Ethics and Rationality), and for good reason, as it has seemingly direct consequences for the way we (choose to?) live our lives. The question has existed since ancient times, but recent scientific advances have added structure to the question, as we’ve discovered …
Since the time of Socrates, there has existed a sentiment among certain people that the pursuit of philosophy (including the philosophy of science) is a critical part of a worthwhile existence – summed up in Socrates quote, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. This view has its basis in human’s greater ability to understand …