STRIP FOR May 30, 1993

The one thing I can never agree with Scott on is free will. I think the idea of free will being nonexistent may make sense to people of certain personalities (i.e., those with cold and calculating brains like robots), but to those who - like myself - analyze their every action to death before making a decision, it seems preposterous to think we aren't really in control. If the human brain has the capacity to come up with multiple courses of action that are equally feasible and then choose between the two, who can say for sure that it would inherently choose the same one every time? Without the ability to "restart" by erasing the previous action from a person's memory and giving them a chance to choose again, we can never know if they might choose a different action each time based entirely on the ability of random choice via free will.

As for the weather, I seem to recall reading abou this thing called chaos that keeps us from predicting the weather perfectly every time. And as for criminal justice and punishment... if we assume that free will is a lie, then the criminal's mind must be inherently inclined to commit criminal actions every single time, making reform impossible. And if criminals can't reform, the only answer is the death sentence or some kind of bizarre brain surgery for all criminals, to get rid of their nasty criminal minds. But then, maybe that's what you meant...

But then, I would say that the "free will part of the brain" is called the soul and IS exempt from the laws of physics, so I'm sure that voids my argument automatically in the eyes of many high-and-mighty "sceintific minds." A determinist might say that some people's brains just lack the ability to acknowledge that something may exist outside of what we can detect with our senses and/or technology... in which case I guess it's silly for them to argue about it. Hm.

Aaanyway... back to the funnier and less preachy comics.

that raises the question: how determined is the wheather? (quantum physicists to the front!)

The neuroscientists are finally catching up with Dogbert's point of view. Here's a video of Michael Gazzaniga talking about how we're coming to see ourselves as integrated with the rest of the physical universe, just as determined as the weather, and how that may result in the elimination of the idea of blame; which will in turn alter our stance on criminal justice and punishment: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid13578633001?bclid=10627712001&bctid=16760385001

Dogbert is way out on the cutting edge!

the thing to remember about free will is you get what you pay for.