Actually late 1950s. --- Frank C. Wimberly 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, Santa Fe, NM 87505
505 670-9918 Santa Fe, NM On Tue, Jun 16, 2020, 2:17 PM Frank Wimberly <[email protected]> wrote: > I've only read your first paragraph but isn't that exactly what Samuel's > checker program did by revising regression coefficients as it gained > experience. We're talking late 1960s. > > --- > Frank C. Wimberly > 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, > Santa Fe, NM 87505 > > 505 670-9918 > Santa Fe, NM > > On Tue, Jun 16, 2020, 2:05 PM glen∉ℂ <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Right. What I set up was in preparation for an argument about exactly >> that. Can a system (any system we know about) be programmed to factor in >> its experience so that the next time around, the probabilities will be >> different, even if only slightly so? Personally, I could go either way. FW) >> I can see a situation where, immediately after some branch was taken, the >> memory structure would dampen/lower (or raise) the chances of that branch >> being taken again. NFW) Or, alternatively, maybe each situation is so >> concrete, so forcibly contextual, that there is no such thing as "coming >> around again". In the former, "free will" exists in the form of >> successively modified ("deliberate") behavior [†]. In the latter, it >> doesn't. I'm sure there are other ways to make the argument either way. >> This argument boils down to pattern recognition, similarity between >> "traces", approximation, and truncation. >> >> I'm sure it's not obvious how/if the (FW) case fits the typical >> understanding of free will [‡]. But I think I can make the argument that >> the scopes/degrees of the branch-points (including the speed of the events, >> size of the clusters of events, etc.) suggest whether it falls under what >> we'd normally call "free will". Scope that is too small/fast (biochemistry >> up to limbic system) is below the threshold. Scope that is too large (being >> reared in a society that forces some behavior like eating meat) is above >> the threshold. But somewhere in between might be an adaptive trend that >> kinda-sorta fits our usual understanding. >> >> >> [†] I think this is distinct from, though related to, the concept of >> _learning_ or entrainment. I think there's a sweet spot in between ignorant >> and enslaved that we target with our concept of free will. >> >> [‡] One of the phenomena this setup could help test is the idea that "you >> never know what you'll do until you're in that situation." I.e. the first >> time you experience something (like a fist fight, or a hit of whiskey, or >> whatever), there can be no free will. The 2nd time, maybe. The 100th time, >> for sure. But the common understanding is that the "decision" is made 100 >> times. This setup violates the vernacular in that the "decision" is smeared >> out through the nearly-repeated experiences. But at some point, you fall >> out of the "free will zone". After 50,000 glasses of whiskey, we might say >> you no longer have free will. You're a slave to your addiction. >> >> Another phenomenon this setup might help think about is whether *some* >> machines have free will but others don't. E.g. if the components that >> remember and adjust the probabilities for the next time around are damaged, >> the machine can't "deliberate" like it normally would ... or the free will >> zone (event/process scopes in the sweet spot) might be shorter or longer. >> >> On 6/16/20 11:28 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote: >> > But you also gamed this proposition: >> > >> > < That memory of lost opportunities is what we call free will. > >> > >> > Many people apparently believe they can defy their programming and >> think it is reasonable to expect people to do the same. But punishing the >> sin and the sinner are the same, and it only matters if the "trace" ever >> can be exercised again. >> >> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam >> un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ >> FRIAM-COMIC <http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/FRIAM-COMIC> >> http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> >
- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
