Your Brain is Just a Computer
Jul 22nd, 2008 by Micah Tillman | 2 Comments |
Due to some adventures The Wife and I have had over the past couple days, I am once again reminded that I shouldn’t be so worried about “determinism” whenever I hear some person or other compare the human brain with a computer.
If you’ve ever dealt with computers (which you have, or else you wouldn’t be reading this; unless someone thought this was such a great post, she or he printed it up and gave it to you in paper form), you know the things are nigh on unpredictable.
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Of course, something’s being “determined” and it’s being “predictable” are not the same thing. But as the word “determinism” is usually used, the latter follows from the former.
And usually “determinism” is used in the sense of “physical determinism.” Even I wouldn’t have any problem with a kind of “spiritual” or “volitional” determinism (e.g., “My soul/will determines my acts.”)
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I give my first summer lecture on St. Augustine’s On Free Choice of the Will (De Libero Arbitrio) tomorrow, where such issues will be particularly relevant.
(Notice the ambiguity of that last statement. Will my lecture tomorrow be my first summer lecture, and also be on St. Augustine? Or will it be the first of my lectures on Augustine, but not necessarily the first of my summer lectures? Yay English!)
Computer-related happiness giggle.
And I understand completely. I really have no idea what made the computer just decide to cooperate but I’m very glad it did. :)
It’s not ambiguous at all, unless you’ve left out a comma by mistake. The way you’ve written it means that it’s your first lecture on Augustine. The other way would require you to fully separate the subordinate clause with a set of commas.