Can Artificial Intelligence have free will?

AProudLefty said:
If there is no such thing as free will then the concept of responsibility (especially legally) gets complicated.
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Only a little. Acknowledging that there is no free will takes the emotion and need for retribution out of punishment. Dangerous people are still dangerous and consequences for actions are still an important deterrent for bad behavior.
 
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ZenMode said:
Only a little. Acknowledging that there is no free will takes the emotion and need for retribution out of punishment. Dangerous people are still dangerous and consequences for actions are still an important deterrent for bad behavior.
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It also allows you to dodge responsibility for your actions.

FWIW, I doubt there is spiritual retribution for bad behavior. IMO, it's more about choice like a spoiled brat choosing to pout and sit in a corner rather than play baseball with his friends because they wouldn't let him play first base.
 
Doc Dutch said:
It also allows you to dodge responsibility for your actions.

FWIW, I doubt there is spiritual retribution for bad behavior. IMO, it's more about choice like a spoiled brat choosing to pout and sit in a corner rather than play baseball with his friends because they wouldn't let him play first base.
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Dodge responsibility? So, even though I said the opposite of that, you're just gonna run with it. Nice.
 
ZenMode said:
Only a little. Acknowledging that there is no free will takes the emotion and need for retribution out of punishment. Dangerous people are still dangerous and consequences for actions are still an important deterrent for bad behavior.
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Still believe your brain tells you what to do. More mystical than religion.
 
ZenMode said:
Dodge responsibility? So, even though I said the opposite of that, you're just gonna run with it. Nice.
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"It's like déjà vu all over again."

If you are just a meat robot reacting to genetic and biochemical programming, how can you be held responsible for your choices in life?

Free will doesn't require a supernatural connection. It only requires the ability to make choices through reason. Animals and meat robot humans only react to situations based upon their genetic programming and experiences (biochemical programming). They have no choices, only reactions. They don't plan ahead nor consider the consequences of their actions.
 
Doc Dutch said:
"It's like déjà vu all over again."

If you are just a meat robot reacting to genetic and biochemical programming, how can you be held responsible for your choices in life?

Free will doesn't require a supernatural connection. It only requires the ability to make choices through reason. Animals and meat robot humans only react to situations based upon their genetic programming and experiences (biochemical programming). They have no choices, only reactions. They don't plan ahead nor consider the consequences of their actions.
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No free will was probably an abstract philosophcal concept that was edgy and radical enough to get some university professors published in the academic journals and get noticed by their professional peers. It might be a savvy professional move. But it seems to me that they have to grasp at some indeterminate psychological data, and trot out some philosophical sophistry to save the theory.
 
Cypress said:
No free will was probably an abstract philosophcal concept that was edgy and radical enough to get some university professors published in the academic journals and noticed by their professional peers. It might be a savvy professional move. But it seems to me that they have to grasp at some indeterminate psychological data, and trot out some philosophical sophistry to save the theory.
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Christianity invented the concept of free will.
 
BidenPresident said:
Christianity invented the concept of free will.
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It's far older than Christianity, old girl. While the Christians have certainly latched onto it, the concept dates back to the Greeks in the West and various spiritual ideas such as Karma in the East.

If people don't have free will, then we are merely puppets or meat robots with no choices in our lives.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/free-will
free will, in philosophy and science, the supposed power or capacity of humans to make decisions or perform actions independently of any prior event or state of the universe. Arguments for free will have been based on the subjective experience of freedom, on sentiments of guilt, on revealed religion, and on the common assumption of individual moral responsibility that underlies the concepts of law, reward, punishment, and incentive. In theology, the existence of free will must be reconciled with God’s omniscience and benevolence and with divine grace, which allegedly is necessary for any meritorious act. A prominent feature of existentialism is the concept of a radical, perpetual, and frequently agonizing freedom of choice. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80), for example, spoke of the individual “condemned to be free.”
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BidenPresident said:
Christianity invented the concept of free will.
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Confucius, Mencius, and The Buddha lived centuries before Saint Augustine, and they wouldn't have devoted their lives to teaching if they didn't believe people could freely choice to cultivate virtue and follow the eightfold path.
 
Cypress said:
Confucius, Mencius, and The Buddha lived centuries before Saint Augustine, and they wouldn't have devoted their lives to teaching if they didn't believe people could freely choice to cultivate virtue and follow the eightfold path.
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Yeah, really don't care about them.
 
Doc Dutch said:
"It's like déjà vu all over again."

If you are just a meat robot reacting to genetic and biochemical programming, how can you be held responsible for your choices in life?

Free will doesn't require a supernatural connection. It only requires the ability to make choices through reason. Animals and meat robot humans only react to situations based upon their genetic programming and experiences (biochemical programming). They have no choices, only reactions. They don't plan ahead nor consider the consequences of their actions.
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A true murderous psychopath despite having no control over being a murderous psychopath, will still be locked away because of his/her crimes.

All animals are as you call it, meat robots. It's just one type of animal, the one with the ability to use complex language, that resists that fact.

All animals go through a mental process when deciding to take action or not. Ultimately, the decision made comes from the darkness of our mind, over which we have no control. That's why we make decisions that result in actions we later regret - we (the "I" we imagine exists) aren't in the drivers seat.
 
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ZenMode said:
A true murderous psychopath despite having no control over being a murderous psychopath, will still be locked away because of his/her crimes.

All animals are as you call it, meat robots. It's just one type of animal, the one with the ability to use complex language, that resists that fact.

All animals go through a mental process when deciding to take action or not. Ultimately, the decision made comes from the darkness of our mind, over which we have no control. That's why we make decisions that result in actions we later regret - we (the "I" we imagine exists) aren't in the drivers seat.
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A murderous psychopath doesn't have free will. Why? Because they are psychopaths. The fact you can't hold the difference in your mind is interesting, 'Mode.

Agreed on animals being meat robots. Agreed on the human difference. Why is that a problem for you? IMO, it's all about evolution.

Animals react. They respond to both their genetics and their experiences. How many animals plan for their retirement? Save for their kid's college educations? Short answer: NONE. Only humans do that. Why the difference? IMO, Free Will. No magic neeeded. Just an intelligent universe.
 
Doc Dutch said:
A murderous psychopath doesn't have free will. Why? Because they are psychopaths. The fact you can't hold the difference in your mind is interesting, 'Mode.

Agreed on animals being meat robots. Agreed on the human difference. Why is that a problem for you? IMO, it's all about evolution.

Animals react. They respond to both their genetics and their experiences. How many animals plan for their retirement? Save for their kid's college educations? Short answer: NONE. Only humans do that. Why the difference? IMO, Free Will. No magic neeeded. Just an intelligent universe.
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Correct, psychopaths have no real choice. They have a genetic component that makes them behave a certain way. They are an highee Profile example of a lack of free will because their behavior is so extreme.

We have all done things we regret. You're on a diet but, in a moment of stress, you plow through a big bowl of ice cream. At some point later, you regret your actions. Why didn't you use your free will to not eat the ice cream?

In a moment of anger and frustration, you say something you would never say to someone you care about. Why not use your free will to stop yourself?

Animals don't have the use of complex language, so they have no real way to understand retirement but, in a similar concept, some animals do store food for the winter, do they not?
 
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ZenMode said:
Correct, psychopaths have no real choice. They have a genetic component that makes them behave a certain way. They are an highee Profile example of a lack of free will because their behavior is so extreme.

We have all done things we regret. You're on a diet but, in a moment of stress, you plow through a big bowl of ice cream. At some point later, you regret your actions. Why didn't you use your free will to not eat the ice cream?

In a moment of anger and frustration, you say something you would never say to someone you care about. Why not use your free will to stop yourself?

Animals don't have the use of complex language, so they have no real way to understand retirement but, in a similar concept, some animals do store food for the winter, do they not?
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But don't you believe your brain commands your behavior?
 
ZenMode said:
Correct, psychopaths have no real choice. They have a genetic component that makes them behave a certain way. They are an highee Profile example of a lack of free will because their behavior is so extreme.

We have all done things we regret. You're on a diet but, in a moment of stress, you plow through a big bowl of ice cream. At some point later, you regret your actions. Why didn't you use your free will to not eat the ice cream?

In a moment of anger and frustration, you say something you would never say to someone you care about. Why not use your free will to stop yourself?

Animals don't have the use of complex language, so they have no real way to understand retirement but, in a similar concept, some animals do store food for the winter, do they not?
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Agreed on psychopaths. Not just them, but any human being with a mental disorder than renders them to compulsions or animalistic behavior. The problem for civilization is determining who is responsible for their actions and who isn't. The difference between a mental hospital and prison.

Regret indicates free will. Do animals regret? No.

Giving in to emotion when one is able to avoid it is, for some, a regrettable action. How many Trumpers on JPP regret voting for Trump and how many do not? Some have dementia or other mental disorders and cannot help themselves. Some can.

A human being doesn't have to speak the same language or speak at all to have free will. Observing their behavior is enough to determine if they are cognitively sound.
 
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