1.5 Agency and Determinism

Do we have free will?  Is your neighbor a philosophical zombie?  Are we living in a simulation? Our hosts hit scriptures, sci fi, and neurobiology to discuss agency and determinism in religion and science.

References

https://www.lds.org/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-4-freedom-to-choose

Arcadia from Tom Stoppard (mentioned in passing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadia_(play)

JST as an anti-determinist text. Compare https://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/ex/10 and http://classic.scriptures.lds.org/en/jst/contents

The Hard Problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hard_Problem

Wiki article on the hard problem of consciousness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_problem_of_consciousness

Joseph Campbell on consciousness https://amzn.to/2XuL9jW

Infinite monkey cage podcast.  Two episodes:

Are We Living in a Simulation? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08zb4d8

The Mind v the Brain https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0901bw2

Theric’s story http://bit.ly/thafterlife

Good Time (words: Vasilis Pozios | Pictures: Zakk Saam) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tylerchintanner/all-we-ever-wanted-stories-of-a-better-world

Pascal’s wager https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_Wager

What's expected of us, by Ted Chiang: https://www.nature.com/articles/436150a

"Art is that over which beings with perfect knowledge can still have divergent viewpoints." ----D. Michael Martindale https://thmazing.blogspot.com/2011/08/found-quotes.html