The problem I have with this idea that choices are deterministic is that people end up saying things such as:
Don’t think “Ohhh, the decision I’ll make is already determined, so I can as well relax and don’t worry too much.”
In other words: “Your decision is determined, but please choose to decide carefully.” Hmmm… slight contradiction there.
The problem I have with the idea that choices are determined is that it doesn’t really explain what the hell we are doing when we are “thinking hard” about a decision. Just running an algorithm? But if everything we ever do in our minds is running an algorithm, why does “thinking hard” feel different from, let’s say, walking home in “autopilot mode”? In both cases there are estimations of future probabilities and things that “could” happen, but in the second case we feel it’s all done in “automatic”. Why does this “automatic” feel different from the active “thinking hard”?
The two different algorithms “feel” different because they have different effects on our internal mental state, particularly the part of our mental state that is accessible to the part of us that describes how we feel (to ourselves as well as others).
The problem I have with this idea that choices are deterministic is that people end up saying things such as:
Don’t think “Ohhh, the decision I’ll make is already determined, so I can as well relax and don’t worry too much.”
In other words: “Your decision is determined, but please choose to decide carefully.” Hmmm… slight contradiction there.
The problem I have with the idea that choices are determined is that it doesn’t really explain what the hell we are doing when we are “thinking hard” about a decision. Just running an algorithm? But if everything we ever do in our minds is running an algorithm, why does “thinking hard” feel different from, let’s say, walking home in “autopilot mode”? In both cases there are estimations of future probabilities and things that “could” happen, but in the second case we feel it’s all done in “automatic”. Why does this “automatic” feel different from the active “thinking hard”?
The two different algorithms “feel” different because they have different effects on our internal mental state, particularly the part of our mental state that is accessible to the part of us that describes how we feel (to ourselves as well as others).