Posted by Elizabeth on February 22, 2000, at 22:22:37
In reply to Re: Out walking the dogma..., posted by Adam on February 22, 2000, at 14:34:35
> Some people have proposed that what makes the "mind" more than the sum of its brain parts is the fact that it is, at some level, a quantum computer, and uses the superposition of quantum states of some or other molecular component(s) to do massively parallel calculations that can't be observed directly but will resolve themselves into a singular result, a "thought".
I think this is necessary (but not sufficient) if we're to believe in such a thing as "free will" (nondeterminism). Then again, as you point out, it's not so obvious that we have "free will" in this sense (regardless of whether we would *like* to have it).
> Maybe people think the mind is more complex than it really is.
Probably; we like to flatter ourselves. :-)
poster:Elizabeth
thread:21333
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000220/msgs/23253.html