Thursday, April 23, 2009

Best Idea I've Heard in a Year

Monday, April 20, 2009

Free Will: The Third Option

Scott Adams thinks that free will is an illusion – humans are nothing more than moist robots.  This is essentially the Newtonian view of human behavior.  If you can discover the right factors and measure them you could predictably guess any individuals actions.

Others (perhaps most) believe that you can do anything and that every choice is voluntary.  In this model there is no physics, every human action is random.

There is, however, a third alternative.  Genetics, environment and upbringing will limit the possibilities considerably.  Humans won’t make completely random choices, they are limited to a finite number of options based on who they are. 

I call this the quantum mechanic view of free-will.  Individual behavior are pretty tightly bound by external factors – most people will follow pretty predictable behaviors – however, there is some probability that small deviations can take place.

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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Ironic Krugman

The funniest thing Krugman ever wrote:

it doesn’t feel right to make fun of crazy people.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

This is News?

I am actually surprised that this is considered news:

Almost three-quarters of Americans think it is a good idea to raise taxes on people making more than $250,000 per year, according to the latest CBS News/New York Times poll.

In fact, two-thirds of Americans think the tax code should be changed so that middle-class Americans pay less than they do now, while “upper income” people pay more.

Really?! Most people that they should something for nothing while someone else pays?  How shocking – that is completely against human nature!

Wait, never mind.  That is just greed, the only trait I am 100% sure everyone has.

HatTip: Coyote Blog

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