Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagDan Falk on free will

man-standing-in-front-of-various-paths-needing-to-make-a-dec-586175037-stockpack-adobestock
man standing in front of various paths, needing to make a decision to move forward in life. Generative Ai.
Type
post
News
Date
June 22, 2025
Categorized
Evolution, Free will, Panpsychism, Physics
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Today’s Free Will Debate Shows How Science Culture is Changing

The fact that this Sapolsky–Mitchell debate is still raging shows that eliminative materialism and physicalism are experiencing setbacks in our philosophy of science culture today
News
June 22, 2025
5
Evolution, Free will, Panpsychism, Physics
Interestingly, Mitchell uses evolution to establish free will. Most uses of the concept would be to deny or diminish it, as in “We evolved to be violent,” etc. Read More ›
man-standing-in-front-of-various-paths-needing-to-make-a-decision-to-move-forward-in-life-generative-ai-stockpack-adobe-stock
man standing in front of various paths, needing to make a decision to move forward in life. Generative Ai.
Type
post
Denyse O'Leary
Date
May 22, 2024
Categorized
Free will, Neuroscience
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At Scientific American, free will seems very much alive

The concept is incompatible with their “mind is just the brain” thesis but they can’t let go of it anyway
Denyse O'Leary
May 22, 2024
6
Free will, Neuroscience
The debate will surely continue but it’s remarkable that it’s even HELD at Scientific American. Wasn’t materialism supposed to have disproved free will by now? Read More ›
a-hand-drops-a-ballot-into-a-transparent-plastic-ballot-box-on-election-day-at-a-polling-station-the-will-of-the-voters-free-elections-generative-ai-stockpack-adobe-stock
a hand drops a ballot into a transparent plastic ballot box on election day at a polling station. the will of the voters. free elections. Generative AI
Type
post
Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 5, 2023
Categorized
Evolution, Free will
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Can Evolution Create Free Will? A Neurologist Says Yes

Could the impersonal natural force of evolution shape hierarchies in the human cerebral cortex so that we have the free will that it does not itself have?
Denyse O'Leary
November 5, 2023
6
Evolution, Free will
It appears that materialists have not been able to simply disprove free will, so Mitchell seems to be trying to shape an evolution theory to fit it. Read More ›