A determined machine can still have free will

Humans and computers are both deterministic systems, but this is still compatible with their being free. Actions caused by an agents beliefs and desires are free because if those factors had been different the agent might have acted differently.

The Copeland Argument

"Incompatibilists are people who believe that the truth of neurophysiological determinism is incompatible with the existence of free will. Arguments like the one about Peter are their stock in trade. I want to suggest to you that there is in fact no incompatibility. Even if Peter is a deterministic system it remains the case that he and he alone was the author of his decision, and that his beliefs, desires and so forth been appropriately different he would have decided differently Deterministic Peter's decision was surely both caused and free--free in that it was caused by Peter's own beliefs, desires, inclinations, etc." (J. Copeland, 1993, p. 149).

References

Copeland, Jack. 1993. Artificial Intelligence: A Philosophical Introduction. Blackwell Publishers.
RELATED ARTICLESExplain
Artificial Intelligence
Can computers think? [1]
No: computers can't have free will
A determined machine can still have free will
Jack Copeland
Computers can't do otherwise
Computers don't choose their own rules
Free will has infititude beyond deterministic limits
Computers only exhibit the free will of programmers
Free will derives from multi-level structure
Free will is a decision-making process
Humans also lack free will
Random selection produces free will
Graph of this discussion
Enter the title of your article


Enter a short (max 500 characters) summation of your article
Enter the main body of your article
Lock
+Comments (0)
+Citations (0)
+About
Enter comment

Select article text to quote
welcome text

First name   Last name 

Email

Skip