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Physicist Unveils a 'Turing Test' For Free Will
KentuckyFC writes "The problem of free will is one of the great unsolved puzzles in science, not to mention philosophy, theology, jurisprudence and so on. The basic question is whether we are able to make decisions for ourselves or whether the outcomes are predetermined and the notion of choice is merely an illusion. Now a leading theoretical physicist has outlined a 'Turing Test' for free will and says that while simple devices such as thermostats cannot pass, more complex ones like iPhones might. The test is based on an extension of Turing's halting problem in computer science. This states that there is no general way of knowing how an algorithm will finish, other than to run it. This means that when a human has to make a decision, there is no way of knowing in advance how it will end up. In other words, the familiar feeling of not knowing the final decision until it is thought through is a necessary feature of the decision-making process and why we have the impression of free will. This leads to a simple set of questions that forms a kind of Turing test for free will. These show how simple decision-making devices such as thermostats cannot believe they have free will while humans can. A more interesting question relates to decision-makers of intermediate complexity, such as a smartphone. As the author puts it, this 'seems to possess all the criteria required for free will, and behaves as if it has it.'"
My smartphone definitely has free will. I can not predict when it will reboot on its own, when it will freeze on a screen or when it will lie to me about notifications. I think it not only has free will, but is also a sociopath!
Karma: SELECT `karma` FROM `users` WHERE `userid`=138474;
oh, wow, you wouldn't BELIEVE the things some thermostats believe.
It's like giving Prak an overdose of truth serum and have him ramble on about frogs for sixty hours.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
My thermostat believes it's Napoleon, and whenever I wander by it on the way to the restroom at night, it always bugs me about how we should be invading Russia and to please make sure I never ship him off to Elba or some such nonsense.
Do thermostats really believe things?
I'd vote yes. Mine systematically believes that the temperature I set is not the one I want.
Does she float like a duck? No! She drops below the water and her vessel is destroyed. Thus, she is neither a witch, nor a duck.
1. It’s your birthday. Someone gives you a calfskin wallet. How do you react?
2. You've got a little boy. He shows you his butterfly collection plus the killing jar. What do you do?
3. You’re watching television. Suddenly you realize there’s a wasp crawling on your arm.
4. You’re in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down, and you see a tortoise, Tony, it’s crawling toward you. You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on its back, Tony. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can’t, not without your help. But you’re not helping. Why is that?
5. Describe in single words, only the good things that come into your mind about your mother.
But perhaps she floats like a piece of wood. In which case she may be burnt. BURN HER!!!
If it turns out we don't have free will, I plan to go nuts and just do whatever I want!
Dark Reflection
And in the same sense, does a married man have free will? At first it might appear so, but upon further investigation it is clear that he does not.
Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
A pity many others don't and therefore don't measure in Celsius.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
This rock on my desk can't predict it's behaviour at all. It sounds like it passes with flying colours.
On the other hand, I can predict it's behaviour quite accurately.
Do the programmers actually have free will, or is it just the Toxoplasma parasites in their brains?