Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Quote of the Day

"There is an indeterminacy on the level of our conscious experience irrespective of any indeterminacy at the level of the brian."
-Donald Mackay

4 comments:

laceylou said...

That sentence is absolutely uncalled for.

michael said...

Wow. Sorry it's so offensive.

I'm not saying I agree with it, or all of its implications, I just find it provocative. Don't you think it's true? Regardless if whether or decisions are externally or internally causes, it certainly feels like we make real choices.

laceylou said...

Michael, it's not offensive at all! Even if I didn't agree with the statement, I wouldn't be offended by it.

What I meant was I don't understand a word of what that sentence is saying because it's way over my head or maybe it's just because I don't have enough context to understand what the author is implying?

I was trying to be funny. Obviously, it was an epic fail.

I had a vague idea of what "indeterminacy" meant, but I didn't understand how that fit with the rest of the sentence. I looked up all the words again, and it still doesn't make sense.

Maybe you could put what Mackay is trying to say in easier terms for me?

I'm assuming this statment eventually gets around to the debate between free-will and determinism? Maybe?

Sorry. I didn't mean to sound like an ass.

michael said...

Man. I really need a different font for sarcasm.

Definitely don't think you're an ass.

The quote simply is referring to the fact that when we make choices, it doesn't feel like they are determined by anything than other our own decision. But, this author is suggesting we don't know if that correlates to actual free will (indeterminacy) on a biological level.

The larger context is even more confusing... so I don't think it helps here! Sorry.

Quote of the day = epic fail.