Free will re-redux

Computers came up only as an example of something complicated for which we have copious "how" information. People kept asking "how" a supposedly deterministic thing works when I would ask "how" a free decision works.

I asked those two question in response to Typoz' distinction between abstract concept and implementation. I thought perhaps it would be possible to describe a free decision in the abstract even if the "implementation" in the human mind was too difficult.

~~ Paul

I wanted to avoid the semantics soup.  But, in the literature there exists clear arguments for seeing a decision distinct from a choice.  

Decisions (subjective) can fail to become choices (objective).  "The slip between cup and lip".    I prefer the term: selection when meaning a choice that is accomplished or is repeating in the environment.

Selections are measurable as outcomes.

An FD (free-decision) yields a T (target affordance) and the outcome can be measured as to whether T is obtained.  T can be manifest after reduction of other possibilities.  T is a transmission of information structure from the agent to her environment.   T binds agent and environment using mutual information between variables.

The implication is for bio-information processing that results in a creation of a target (T) being detailed as a process.  Then - if the transmission is successful - a manifestation of T, as an state of affairs in the environment would indicate the message of the decision is communicated to the environment.

A state of W(s) is defined as FD activated by W mapping to T.   W (will) is command and control enforced to manifest T in the surrounding environment.  Then: FD + W can manifest - or not - as Ws  a measurable outcome.  State W(s) will have both the meaning (logical/functional) of the intentional enforcement of W and the structural aspects of the FD.

I am trying to set-up measurables in selecting a sandwich for lunch or for cell detecting a nutrient.  I will also note how computation is missing steps available to a biological being.  I plan is to pragmatically point to the measuring of choices, decision-making variables, detection of intentions and individual motivations -in a given environment.  Will can be seen as a factor necessary in creating a working simulation of biological behavior.  

Look at what is read and seen in art and entertainment.  Every joke, action stunt and drama queen is about intentions and enforcement of will.  Understanding life is all about deciphering the W(s) of our inner and outer environments.

Fair enough. It would be cool to measure W, but the measurement is not an explanation of the "how."

I'm not sure how you would measure a "positive outcome," nor am I sure why positives imply above-normal amounts.

~~ Paul

Will is the active response of a healthy organism.  Positive outcomes for the willful intent of an organism are judged to be enforcement of the Target SoA (state of affairs).  W is behavior aimed at controlling the circumstances to match the specific intention created by a decision.

The data-mining done by big corporations and governments-funded research is exactly aimed at gauging motivation and specifiers in the market.  Parsing public intentions into stats and being able to identify the decision-making variables that will drive them are profitable skill-sets to have; and get you called a "quant".

My degree is in computer science, so I have a good understanding of how they work.

~~ Paul

I am sorry that you have dropped this.  We can talk about how degrees of freedom can be simulated in programs.  We can talk about the phenomenal success of programs that represent intent, such as game theory and decision theory.  These are cornerstones for AI.