[ExI] free-will, determinism, crime and punishment

[John K Clark]

"Lee Corbin" <lcorbin at rawbw.com>

> Unless some loony-tunes really does believe in uncaused events

Well then nearly every physicist alive is loony because they also believe
some events have no cause. Einstein was wrong, God not only plays dice
He sometimes rolls the dice where they can't be seen.

> just take references to "free will" to mean references to decision
> making.

Ok, then decision making is just data processing, as deterministic as a
Cuckoo Clock. You're a pair of dice or a Cuckoo Clock, those are the only
options.

> You know very well that there is a big difference between choosing a
> candidate as you normally do in a voting booth, and choosing one
> because  someone is holding a gun to your head.

Yes you're right, there is a big difference. In Case 1 I know that if I vote
for candidate X that ugly man standing next to me will pull the trigger on
the enormous gun he has aimed at my head and splatter my brains all
over the voting booth, and in case 2 I do not have that rather important
piece of new information. New information does not always bring good news.

 John K Clark