14th April 2010, 8:49 AM
lazy, I think what you're showing is the well established tendancy for humans to detect agency where none exists. You're looking for motives, desires and plans in atoms after all. The thing is, atoms behave EXACTLY the same as each other, and their interactions with each other can be predicted exactly in all situations, hence chemistry. If such predictable outcomes of their interactions are possible, the more reasonable explanation seems to be that they don't have any sort of conciousness or will of their own.
If you're going to say they do, you'll need to come up with some method of actually testing this. What would we expect atoms to do if they were concious that the model that they are NOT concious and simply obeying chemical laws does NOT predict?
If you're going to say they do, you'll need to come up with some method of actually testing this. What would we expect atoms to do if they were concious that the model that they are NOT concious and simply obeying chemical laws does NOT predict?
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)