<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><br></div><div><br>On 03/05/2013, at 5:58 PM, Gordon <<a href="mailto:gts_2000@yahoo.com">gts_2000@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span><br></span></div><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br></div> <div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"> <div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"> <div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <hr size="1"> <font size="2" face="Arial">Stathis Papaioannou <<a href="mailto:stathisp@gmail.com">stathisp@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</font></div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font size="2" face="Arial"><br></font></div><div class="y_msg_container" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;">> The matter in the
brain follows rigid, mechanistic rules. </div><div class="y_msg_container" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div><div class="y_msg_container" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">So many believe. This question is more about the arguments for and against free will.</span></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Even if the rules are probabilistic they are rigid and mechanistic. For example, radioactive decay is truly random but is described by simple and completely rigid equations.</div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"><div style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"><div class="y_msg_container" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">> The same </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">rules that the matter in computers follows. You claim that mind comes</span></div><div class="y_msg_container" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new
york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;">> out of the matter in the brain, but it is impossible for mind to come<br>> out of the matter in a computer. How can you be so sure about this?<br><br>I've mentioned at least a couple of my reasons:</div><div class="y_msg_container" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br></div><div class="y_msg_container"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">1) Semantics is not intrinsic to syntax. There is no </span>conceivable<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> way that a digital computer running software could know the meanings of the symbols it manipulates.</span><br><br><br>2) Even if 1) is false; that is, even if the human brain/mind could be modeled as a digital computer that manipulates symbols in such a way it has conscious experience (semantics), there is no real syntax in the brain. We assign it to the physics. We're only imagining it.</div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><br><div>You haven't answered the question. Where does the semantics in the brain come from, and why is the matter in the brain specially privileged?</div></body></html>