• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    higher uncertainty of my choices achieving what I strive for

    More higher uncertainty of an outside observer predicting the choices you will make.

    The inability to anticipate another person’s actions suggests they may have internal agency. Compared to say, a rock, which you can shove and confidently predict where it will stop moving, a human is far more difficult to judge.

    • brrt@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      I don’t understand what you are getting at. 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.

      • 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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          5 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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            5 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.

        • 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”.