free will
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A tour of “Newcomb’s Paradox,” in which philosophers who ought to know better argue about the best way to behave in a nonsensical, world-hopping dilemma.
Sometimes, only an irrational choice can help us make the world as good as it could possibly be.
anonymity, anonymous, anonymous action, Blood Test, brains, Charles Baxter, choice, consciousness, Daniel Dennett, emotion, emotions, ensemble behavior of matter, free will, game theory, Hamlet, irrational behavior, irrational choices, irrationality, magical thinking, neural firing, neurons, neuroscience, Newcomb’s Paradox, philosophy, physics, prediction, predictive neuroscience, prisoners’ dilemma, prophecy, quantum computers, quantum mechanics, rational behavior, rational choices, rationality, revenge, Robert Frank, Robert Sapolsky, Roko’s basilisk, Sabine Hossenfelder, science, social opprobrium, storytelling, superposition, The Lion King, The Prisoners’ Dilemma, trust, uncertainty, uncertainty principle
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Who are you going to trust, this stack of research papers or your deeply ingrained experience of the world?
The particles composing your brain should follow the laws of physics, but can you choose to believe that you can make no choices?
Ambrose Bierce, artificial intelligence, atheism, biology of choice, biology of free will, Blaise Pascal, choice, crime and punishment, criminal justice, criminal justice reform, Determined, determinism, free action, free choice, free will, magical thinking, moral agency, neurobiology of free will, neurology, philosophy, philosophy of free will, punishing a faulty algorithm, punishment, quantum computer, quantum computing, quantum mechanics, random action, random choice, reform, Robert Sapolsky, Sapolsky, science, science of free will, science of moral choice, superposition, who has free will, will
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On ‘Existential Physics’ and free will.
If a physicist says you can’t have free will, but you can lift your arm when you want, who should you believe?
brain chemistry, computability, consciousness, continuous space, digital mathematics, discontinuous space, Existential Physics, free will, Hossenfelder, is our universe pixelated, physics, physics of consciousness, physics of free will, physics of thought, pixelated space, Sabine, Sabine Hossenfelder -
On storytelling and social justice.
By telling powerful stories with integrity, we might inspire people to help change the world.
activism, addiction, Bloomington, consciousness as storytelling, Dave Eggers, death in jail, emotions, emotions to compel action, framing your own story, Frans de Waal, free will, incarceration, Indiana, jail, jail poetry, Lindsey Badger, mass incarceration, Max Smith, Michelle Brekke, narrative consciousness, neuroscience of consciousness, neuroscience of free will, New Leaf, New Leaf New Life, overcoming trauma, poetry in jail, prison poetry, rationality, restorative justice, storytelling, storytelling and incarceration, teaching kids to be activists, The Bloomingtonian, The Dimension Mill, the neuroscience of storytelling, The Parade, trauma, writing and incarceration, writing and social justice, writing in prison
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On octopus art.
We humans make art for humans, but octopuses might make art for others.
Andy Warhol, animal art, animal cognition, animal theory of mind, art, art criticism, art theory, audience, Baphomet, board games, do animals make art, elephant art, elephant painting, emotional intelligence, empathy, evolution of brains, evolution of cognition, evolution of intelligence, free will, function of art, gossip, how does consciousness work, narrative explanation, non-human animal cognition, non-human animals, octopus art, octopus brains, octopus literature, octopus theory of mind, poetry, purpose of art, Satan, The Optic Wraith, The Sri Lankan Loxodrome, theory of mind, timing of consciousness, what counts as art, what is art, what qualifies as art, why do we make art, why is art beautiful, Will Alexander
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On happiness and mind control.
We could change our brains enough to feel happy with the world as it is … or we could use our unhappiness as a motivation to fix things.
abusive research, addiction, America, animal emotions, animal empathy, asylums, bad medical advice, bioethics, biomedical ethics, brain modification, brain parasites, brain stimulation, brain’s pleasure center, Carl Elliott, cat shit, chemically modulated happiness, cocaine, consciousness, conversion therapy, DCS, deep brain stimulation, depression, direct current stimulation, dopamine, drug abuse, drug crisis, drug use, eating cat shit, electrical brain stimulation, electrochemical stimulation of desire, empathy in rats, evolutionary rationale for pleasure, fighting depression, Frans de Waal, free will, happiness, homosexuality, human choice, human free will, Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal, induction of empathy, Lone Frank, love potion, Mama’s Last Hug, mind control, nucleus accumbens, opiate use, painkillers, parasites, parasitic mind control, psychiatric patients, psychiatric wards, psychiatry, psychological crisis, psychology studies, psychosurgery, rat empathy, rats free their friends, research ethics, research subjects, review of The Pleasure Shock, Robert Heath, science, scientific ethics, scientific progress, sex in a laboratory, suicide, toxo, toxoplasma, toxoplasmosis, unethical experiments, unethical research, unethical science, United States
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On neural plasticity.
What would it take to convince yourself that you are worthy of love?
addiction, biofeedback, brain development, brain growth, CBT, chemical dependence, cocaine, cognitive behavioral therapy, counseling, criminal justice, day by day, depression, dopamine, dopamine receptor levels, dopamine receptors, drug addiction, drug counseling, drug use, e-meter, free will, getting over addiction, happiness, healing, incarceration, jail, lie detector test, mass incarceration, mental health, methamphetamine, mind control, neural development, neural plasticity, plasticity, poetry, poetry class, polygraph, redemption, rehab, rehabilitation, reshaping thought, Scientology, sobriety, substance abuse, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, therapy
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On mind control versus body control
In jail last week, we found ourselves discussing mind control. Ants that haul infected comrades away from the colony – otherwise, the zombie will climb above the colony before a Cordyceps fruiting body bursts from its spine, raining spores down onto everyone below, causing them all to die. Several parasites, including Toxoplasma gondii, are known…
body control, brain, consciousness, free will, infection, jail, magnetic pulse, mass incarceration, mind control, neurobiology, parasites, parasitic mind control, perception of free will, phantom limb, teaching in jail, toxoplasma, toxoplasmosis, transcranial magnetic stimulation, zombi, zombie, zombie ants, zombies
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On love and physics.
Even when love doesn’t change the world, it changes us.
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On the death of Thor.
If Thor could meet the white supremacists who praise him now, he’d surely die again of shame.
Aryan, Asatru, Christianity, Else Christensen, fate, feminism, Fenris Wolf, free will, Freya, Freya’s wedding, hate, heathen religions, Icelandic, Jeramy Dodds, Job, KKK, Loki, Midgard Serpent, misogyny, Noah, Norse, Norse gods, Norse mythology, Norse myths, Norse religion, Odin, odinism, Odinist, paganism, poetic devices, Poetic Edda, Prose Edda, racism, Ragnarok, religion, shame, slavery, Thor, Thor’s wedding, Viking, wedding of Thor, white supremacist, white supremacists, white supremacy, Yahweh, ZOG
Frank Brown Cloud 