• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    You are either saying that you can predict where a fly is going to go when you set it free or you are saying that a fly has internal agency.

    If the fly lacks agency, you would be able to predict its movement given a sufficiently accurate set of information.

    If it has agency, you could not.

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      It’s difficult to predict the path of a leaf floating in the wind, but I don’t think anybody would say a leaf has agency.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        It’s difficult to predict the path of a leaf floating in the wind

        Orders of magnitude less difficult, as the leaf can’t glean your intent and respond accordingly.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            That the movement of a leaf in the wind is less complex than the electro-chemical processes of a human brain?

            With enough time and math, certainly.

            • merc@sh.itjust.works
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              4 months ago

              The point is, you were using the point that a fly’s movements were complex to argue that a fly has internal agency. But, a leaf floating on the wind also has complex movements. To me, that makes it seem like complex movements aren’t a solid indicator of agency.

              If you’re now talking about dissection, that’s a whole different argument.

              • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                a fly’s movements were complex to argue that a fly has internal agency

                A fly has the ability to observe its surroundings and adjust its position in response to outside stimulus. A leaf does not. That, alone, adds a dimension of activity that the first possesses and the second doesn’t.

                You can argue that the fly is still a deterministic agent, but the ability to observe and respond adds a dimension of activity that’s more complex than a leaf, which can only move based on the surrounding wind currents.

    • brrt@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      You missed the point while drawing your circular argument.

      Take what you said and replace fly with human. Wait here I’ll do it for you:

      If a human lacks agency, you would be able to predict its movement given a sufficiently accurate set of information.

      If it has agency, you could not.

      Now tell me how you will acquire a sufficiently accurate set of information about a human and its environment to test your hypothesis.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Now tell me how you will acquire a sufficiently accurate set of information about a human and its environment to test your hypothesis.

        You can’t. That’s a significant problem of identifying the existence or absence of “Free Will”.