(Untitled)

[hehenahaole]

Perhaps free will can be best described as, and originates in, the ability to reflect on or refer back to past experience (or, less holistically, to analyze collected data about past behavior in light of operational goals) and, upon that reflection, to modify one's behavior in accordance with one's operational goals.

Comments

[telarus]

One of the Greek Philosophical greats, I think Plato, or Socrates...it may have Been Dyongenes said, "One should never say, 'I see', but one should say, 'I have seen'...."

[hehenahaole]

This was an insight inspired by my complexity theory class. :) We were discussing self-aware systems, and the instructor inadvertently, and I think without realizing it, essentially called the process described above free will. It was nice having a potential answer to that paradox, especially since the answer in terms of the debate was "mu" (in Hofstadter's usage).

[aronalle]

This could also be ascribed to pattern recognition. Events are controlled and affected by a vast combination of circumstances. If we want to change the way something happens, we change one or more of the circumstantial variables leading into the event. The more times we experiment with the variables, the more experience we have with how that event can play out, the better we are at predicting the results.