Re: Need help with triple timelines

On Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:23:24 GMT, goldfarb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (David
Goldfarb) wrote:

In article <4a623d1c.38768045@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Jonathan L Cunningham <spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
If I had a time-scope device that let me see the future, I would *not*
use it to see my own future. If it's nice, I'll get a pleasant surprise,
and if it's bad, I don't want to know. I *would* use it to see what next
week's lottery numbers are going to be... :-)

If the future is fixed, then you *would* use it to see your own future
if it were your destiny to, and you would not use it if *that* were
destiny. You're talking like you actually had a choice.

The past is fixed, but I used my free will in it to decide what to do.

If the future is fixed, I can do the same.

The idea that predestination is somehow mutually exclusive with free
will is a *very* common mistake, one made by generations of philosophers
and theologians. I don't their problem.

Suppose (for the sake of argument) I have an infallible oracle that
tells me what you are going to eat for dinner tomorrow. Does that
somehow take away your free will to decide what to eat?

ISTM obvious that it doesn't, yet somehow it bothers people. I don't
understand why. They must have some notion of "free will" which doesn't
make sense to me.

Jonathan

--
http://chromomancer.livejournal.com
.

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