01 October 2013

Decide what you think - it matters!

Tom Stafford at mindhacks.com writes on free will studies that indicate some interesting side effects of reading about a deterministic model.  Here's the bottom line:
This is a young research area. We still need to check that individual results hold up, but taken all together these studies show that our belief in free will isn’t just a philosophical abstraction. We are less likely to behave ethically and kindly if our belief in free will is diminished.
Personally I do think that regardless of the exact underlying physical mechanisms, one's choices help set the pattern for future behaviors, so best to act carefully and with fore-thought!

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