what... are... you... READING

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posts

[Pyraxis]

Brilliant observations.

[Lucifer]

Fascinating. I just checked out the site.

BTW, Pea -

11. FREE WILL

EVERY day, we live under the spell of an illusion: that our conscious mind is autonomous, and in control of our bodies and decisions. We think we have free will, yet as neuroscience digs ever deeper into the mystery of the human brain, that delusion becomes harder to justify. We are, as one neuroscientist told me as he used a powerful magnet to take control of my body’s movements, brain-machines.

This runs contrary to our every impulse. Our gut instinct, our experience, is that we make the decisions to move, to think, to eat, to steal, to lie, to punch and kick. We have constructed the entire edifice of our civilisation on this idea. Is science wrong when it says free will is a delusion? If not, what does it mean for our sense of self? And for our morality – can we prosecute people for acts over which they had no conscious control?

this is fascinating.  i'd chuck jungian theories about collective unconscious into the mix as well.  (but then, you know i'd say that ).

[Nocturnalist!]

'Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer' by Stewart Evans.

[Pyraxis]

this is fascinating.  i'd chuck jungian theories about collective unconscious into the mix as well.  (but then, you know i'd say that ).

I'm not convinced that free will isn't a red herring dilemma, like nature vs nurture (some of both, morons!), or demanding the existence of god be proven (don't hammer a nail with a screwdriver). So I don't think it actually has a place on a list of mysteries that will be answered in the near future. But evidently there are people who think otherwise.

My guess is free will vs determinism will turn out to be a "some of both" answer.

I do think that what Jung calls a collective unconscious will be found to have a proven scientific basis, though. It's like the firmware of the human brain.

[Lucifer]

this is fascinating.  i'd chuck jungian theories about collective unconscious into the mix as well.  (but then, you know i'd say that ).

I'm not convinced that free will isn't a red herring dilemma, like nature vs nurture (some of both, morons!), or demanding the existence of god be proven (don't hammer a nail with a screwdriver). So I don't think it actually has a place on a list of mysteries that will be answered in the near future. But evidently there are people who think otherwise.

   some people like getting involved in such non-subjects cos they can gas on about it forever, without being forced to demonstrate that they know what they're talking about. 

My guess is free will vs determinism will turn out to be a "some of both" answer.

absolutely agree: as you said above, completely congruent with the nature/nuture debate.

I do think that what Jung calls a collective unconscious will be found to have a proven scientific basis, though. It's like the firmware of the human brain.

i like that analogy.   

[ApotheosisIV]

I'm reading The Electric Church by Jeff Somers - probably the best scifi book I have read for a long time. I'm up to page 100, but I can't be bothered reading it at the moment - I don't have the patience. Fucking good book though.

Also Murder.com by Chirstopher Berry-Dee and Steven Morris -  a book about some of the sick fucks you may find on the internets. 

[DirtDawg]

Mixed in some John Irving. (Still studying symmetry and now Vista [I need to]) I had forgotten how clever he can be.

[odeon]

"Black & Blue" by Ian Rankin

[driftingblizzard]

"A Pirates Daughter",   about a child of Errol Flynn's, who grew up in Jamaca... 

[Trigger 11]

Just started "Legacy Of The Force: Betrayal" by Aaron Allston.

[driftingblizzard]

"A Pirates Daughter",   about a child of Errol Flynn's, who grew up in Jamaca... 

Still reading A pirates daughter,   and I am already looking forward to reading it again!...

[Blasted]

Herman Hesse - Steppenwolf

[enronh]

[Lucifer]

just bought a book by gavin cologne-brookes (whom i know, starfucker that i am), called "if i'm ever back this way" which is a fictionalised story about a trip round the states.  i got half a page in and had to stop reading and walking (yes, i was reading on the way from the uni library to my office - i AM that bookworm!) to laugh out loud and frighten a student. 

it's brilliant!  can't wait to read more - i got a couple of pages further in, but steeled myself to abandon it so i can finish what i started reading yesterday (a rankin).