[ExI] will as essence

scerir scerir at libero.it
Sun Jun 24 18:27:17 UTC 2007


gts
> Now, thanks to Damien and Libet above, 
> we know the will drives the intellect 
> with a ~200 to ~500 millisec lag.

Experiments performed with top target shooters
(not to mention Herrigel's 'Zen in the Art
of Archery', 1948) show that: 1) firing, breaking 
a shot consciously ('to decide a shot') produces 
a bad shot; 2) firing a shot subconsciously
produces a good shot (a 'surprise' shot).

There are many reasons for the above (coordination
between pulling the trigger, focusing on the sights,
'wobble area', etc., and note that all these actions
do not 'commute'). But experiments performed by
Libet (thanks to Damien!) show something deeper 
is going on with the 'subconscious target shooting',
and that 'will' has detrimental effects.

s.   

"Aiming at a distant object and hitting it - 
that, of course is impossible. But if we throw 
a stone in the right direction, imagining 
the absurd possibility of hitting the object 
will make success more probable. In this case 
the certainty that this can happen is more important 
than training and will." 
-Niels Bohr



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