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Wednesday, November 19, 2008 12:00 AM

God enough

We should see the ceaseless creativity of nature as sacred, argues biologist Stuart Kauffman, despite what Richard Dawkins might say.

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  • Wednesday, November 19, 2008 06:49 AM

    Bad assumptions lead to bad conclusions

    The fact is that we can act on our own behalf and make choices. So agency is real.

    Actually, no. It isn't that simple. Kauffman begins his arguments with the assumption that the centuries old argument over predestination has been resolved in favor of free will. It just isn't so. You can take any of the examples he gives and state that it only seems like free will because that's how we perceive it. In reality all of those actions, including your perception of it as free will, are the outcomes of basic physics. Reactions occur in a specific way leading to a specific result.

    We have no control group to prove otherwise.

    There are other, more involved theories that suggest other possibilities, all of which are better than Kauffman's "But my doggie, he is so cute! Such cuteness couldn't be predestined!"

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