Random fact thread

[Time Shield 402]

Except this is not always true.

 

Why do you think your doctor tapped you below the knee cap (and then your lower leg kicked forward gently)?

 

Reflexes.

 

Stems from the spinal cord, not the brain.  Nearly instant; much faster than brain-processing.

 

~ Miles

 

Indeed, certain reactions can't afford to wait for the long trip to the brain and back, so it makes the decision for you.  Makes you wonder just how many activities are due to autonomous reaction instead of something you're consciously deciding to do.

[Velcorn 279]

I have a problem believing in something like autonomous decision or the concept of free will in general...

[neznamkaksa 78]

You spend 1/7 of your life in Mondays.

MINDBLOW

[I used to be a stranger 7,988]

Cruithne is a ~5km asteroid which semi-orbits the Earth. Due to its eccentricity, it traces a bean-shaped path in the sky, with an orbital resonance of 1:1. Cruithne is one of only two of Earth's known trojan satellites.

[Time Shield 402]

I have a problem believing in something like autonomous decision or the concept of free will in general...

 

Those are two opposing ideas though.  Autonomous decision means that you don't make the decision consciously, which is the opposite of free will, where you do make the decision consciously.  Saying you don't believe in either doesn't exactly give you much room to go...

[Velcorn 279]

Now

 

Those are two opposing ideas though.  Autonomous decision means that you don't make the decision consciously, which is the opposite of free will, where you do make the decision consciously.  Saying you don't believe in either doesn't exactly give you much room to go...

I'm confused because according to the translation of both autonomous decision should be the same as free will...

[Time Shield 402]

Now

 

I'm confused because according to the translation of both autonomous decision should be the same as free will...

 

Maybe I'm just not using the right term?  What I mean is something that your body does that you don't decide to do, it just does it.  For example, you don't decide to make your heart beat, but it does anyway, autonomously (meaning no outside influence was involved, in this case meaning influence from your brain).

[Yummychickenblue 301]

Saliva is 99.95% water. . . I think

[Littlecandylulu903 415]

My cousin used to be on this forum until he got banned...

[Velcorn 279]

Maybe I'm just not using the right term?  What I mean is something that your body does that you don't decide to do, it just does it.  For example, you don't decide to make your heart beat, but it does anyway, autonomously (meaning no outside influence was involved, in this case meaning influence from your brain).

Alright, I get what you mean... But in general autonomous decision would be the same as free will; at least more or less...

 

I just realized you meant autonomous reaction of your brain... In this case, you are right... I just misread what you wrote^^

 

Yeah, but I have trouble believing in the concept of free will in general...

Edited June 3, 2015 by DolphinPrince

[Time Shield 402]

Alright, I get what you mean... But in general autonomous decision would be the same as free will; at least more or less...

 

I just realized you meant autonomous reaction of your brain... In this case, you are right... I just misread what you wrote^^

 

Yeah, but I have trouble believing in the concept of free will in general...

 

Then that 80 millisecond lag on your senses should please you.  You decide to raise your arm, and it raises, but based on what we know about the lag, it means it actually raised 80 milliseconds before that.  Some people have interpreted this as meaning our responses to everything are autonomous, and that our own thoughts and decisions are actually just our brain rationalizing our actions after the fact.  Thus, no free will.

[Velcorn 279]

Then that 80 millisecond lag on your senses should please you.  You decide to raise your arm, and it raises, but based on what we know about the lag, it means it actually raised 80 milliseconds before that.  Some people have interpreted this as meaning our responses to everything are autonomous, and that our own thoughts and decisions are actually just our brain rationalizing our actions after the fact.  Thus, no free will.

That doesn't make sense to me because those 80 ms are simply the delay the information needs to get around your body...

 

I don't believe in free will because everything you have ever been, are and always will be is determined by your genes and the environment you've been in... Every small experience you've had contributed to what you are now and thus makes you behave and think like you do at the moment...

[I used to be a stranger 7,988]

This post has been redacted by the author.

Edited May 9, 2021 by Blue

[Edgeworth1001 648]

The color of grass is green.

[ChikaChan 7,320]

Everything have a purpose hope that is right ._.

[Velcorn 279]

The question of actions and decisions being free or not comes to two (usually opposing) views: Free Will or Determinism.

 

Free Will usually takes the axiom that the future does not exist until the present "writes" it, and as the present becomes the past, ceases to exist again, and that events which occurred in the present then are "written" as information in reality. (This is called A-series Time. The other more complicated view is B-series Time, which assumes that the past, future and present all exist, but we can only view the present.) We literally are acting according to our minds (and souls [if they exist]) to modify reality according to something which may or may not be fully connected to reality.

 

Determinism says that free will is just an imagined idea, and that all actions and decisions are causally determined. Depending on how deep you go down the rabbit hole, this is because of electrochemistry in the brain, derived from variations on the atomic structure of our body's cellular chemistry, or even derived from the quantum states of subatomic particles which comprise the chemical compounds in those cells. (There's a lot of headaches in studying these phenomena, since at the quantum level, the behavior of subatomic particles can be affected simply by observing them.) The behaviors of your brain and chemistry and quantum stuff are all determined according to physical laws of the Universe. One reason why many people dislike determinism is because the simple summary is that we only have the illusion of free choice, when ultimately we have no more volition than an apple falling off of a tree.

 

Determinism vs. Free Will also appears in religious concerns, especially when it comes to supreme beings which claim omniscience and omnipotence: in such case, the question is inevitably asked "if [a] god is all powerful and all knowing, wouldn't it be true that he could fore-know everything even down to the movement of particles?". Reconciling this question with religions which strongly advocate the importance of human free will and decision making usually is a complicated and long-winded problem. For Christians, the issue is between God and him giving humans the ability to love (which necessitates free will to exist in order to make sense). The simple name of that debate is is Armenianism vs. Calvinism.

 

On top of all of it, there's also the logical question which raises its head in philosophy: 'if free will does not exist, why would we ever think it did? A hungry stomach surely implies there's such a thing as food.'

 

All in all, it's food for thought.

That's interesting but not quite what I meant... In this particular case, I still believe in the concept of free will because everything being determined just doesn't seem to make sense to me...

 

There is a free will but just to the point where you would feel like being able to choose what you do... After all, everything you've experienced is the reason for your current thinking and acting and therefore it's already sure what you are going to do in certain situations and because of that not really free will...

[AmberDust 1,116]

On a six-side die, opposite ends will always add up to seven.

 

This thread is about facts, not opinions. This "free will" conversation is kind of lost here.

Edited June 4, 2015 by AmberDust

[I used to be a stranger 7,988]

The Bible is the most stolen, shoplifted and smuggled book. More than 10 million copies of Bibles are illegally printed, shipped or acquired every year.

[AmberDust 1,116]

Bic manufactures two of the most stollen items--pens and lighters.

[CosmicSpark 2,120]

You spend 1/3 of your life sleeping

[1111 1,284]

You're nails are made out of the same thing as you're hair the protein keratin, but its structured differently.

[I used to be a stranger 7,988]

Most pocket lighters are filled with butane.

 

The main kind of fuel used in jet turbine aircraft is called Jet-A1. It has no simple comparison to normal automobile fuels like gasoline or diesel since its comprised of a complex mix of a number of hydrocarbons. However, additives are often added to jet fuel for certain kinds of advantages to aircraft performance, such as fuel-icing-inhibitors, anti-static agents, metal reaction deactivators and bioicides (to prevent bacteria or algae from surviving inside fuel tanks). Some military-grade jet fuels have additives which gum-up and form a sticky gel when in contact with cold air at low pressure. This kind of additive blocks leaks in the fuel tank if the aircraft is shot.

 

One of the main kinds of rocket fuels used by many Launching systems today is RP1, which is essentially an extremely pure form of kerosene.

[Grepper 3,192]

The coin that sold for the most at auction was the American 1933 Double Eagle (a twenty dollar gold coin.)

It sold for $7,590,020 in 2002.

 

 

I think the coin looks gorgeous.

[SparklingSwirls 21,261]

The French language has seventeen different words for "surrender"

 

What are they? I was unable to find that many

[Nit Pick 247]

Pill bugs are not bugs but land dwelling crustaceans, more closely related to the shrimp and crayfish.

 

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