I was researching consciousness and came across this article about free will. It might be interesting for you all to consider how free will affects your character's stance in the play; does your character actually have a choice in the decisions they make? I've included a few of the most interesting quotes.
Also, I'm Allegra's liaison while she's in New York, so feel free to ask me questions or to relay things to her.
Enjoy,
Taylor (hooray for my first post!)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/science/02free.html?_r=2&pagewanted=3&sq=free%20will&st=cse&scp=3
A bevy of experiments in recent years suggest that the conscious mind is like a monkey riding a tiger of subconscious decisions and actions in progress, frantically making up stories about being in control. As a result, physicists, neuroscientists and computer scientists have joined the heirs of Plato and Aristotle in arguing about what free will is, whether we have it, and if not, why we ever thought we did in the first place.
"Is it an illusion? That's the question," said Michael Silberstein, a science philosopher at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. Another question, he added, is whether talking about this in public will fan the culture wars.
Daniel C. Dennett, a philosopher and cognitive scientist at Tufts University who has written extensively about free will, said that "when we consider whether free will is an illusion or reality, we are looking into an abyss. What seems to confront us is a plunge into nihilism and despair."
Whatever choice you make is unforced and could have been otherwise, but it is not random. You are responsible for any damage to your pocketbook and your arteries.
"[Free will is] an illusion, but it's a very persistent illusion; it keeps coming back," Dr. Wegner said, comparing it to a magician's trick that has been seen again and again. "Even though you know it's a trick, you get fooled every time. The feelings just don't go away."
A bevy of experiments in recent years suggest that the conscious mind is like a monkey riding a tiger of subconscious decisions and actions in progress, frantically making up stories about being in control. As a result, physicists, neuroscientists and computer scientists have joined the heirs of Plato and Aristotle in arguing about what free will is, whether we have it, and if not, why we ever thought we did in the first place.
"Is it an illusion? That's the question," said Michael Silberstein, a science philosopher at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. Another question, he added, is whether talking about this in public will fan the culture wars.
Daniel C. Dennett, a philosopher and cognitive scientist at Tufts University who has written extensively about free will, said that "when we consider whether free will is an illusion or reality, we are looking into an abyss. What seems to confront us is a plunge into nihilism and despair."
Whatever choice you make is unforced and could have been otherwise, but it is not random. You are responsible for any damage to your pocketbook and your arteries.
"[Free will is] an illusion, but it's a very persistent illusion; it keeps coming back," Dr. Wegner said, comparing it to a magician's trick that has been seen again and again. "Even though you know it's a trick, you get fooled every time. The feelings just don't go away."
