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anonstudent01's picture

Behavior, Unpredictability and the Brain

The discussion about gender differences in behavior and adaptive behavior has been really interesting, thanks for the links! On tuesday we decided that free will = unpredictability. We also discussed whether or not the nervous system has free will. I think that because behavioral response is dependant upon perception by the I function (because neurons don't account for everything) , then the I function must have free will. If it didn't then we couldn't be selective when choosing mates or when developing character. On the other hand, I don't believe that unpredictibility in the brain is unpredictable in the least. Regardless of how many times the input has resulted in a specific output, any output is ordered even if for the very first time and seemingly at random or formed as a result of growth or experimentation. So does the I function have free will if the Nervous System is indeed an input-output machine and ordered/predictable? We discussed that neurons can generate inputs without outputs which I also do not think is random but purposeful, computers do not do this but because they are strictly input-output machines. So then the NS can't be an input-out machine?

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