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Free Will

Edited by Eliezer Yudkowsky, et al. last updated 1st Oct 2020

Free will is one of the easiest hard questions, as millennia-old philosophical dilemmas go. Though this impossible question is generally considered fully and completely dissolved on Less Wrong, aspiring reductionists should try to solve it on their own.

Non-spoiler posts

The following posts can be read to set up the problem of "free will" and what constitutes a good solution from a reductionist perspective, without entirely giving away the solution. (When Yudkowsky wrote these posts, he thought he could get away with just leaving it as a practice problem, and some of the posts state that the problem will be left open. However Yudkowsky did eventually find that he needed to write out the whole solution.)

  • How An Algorithm Feels From Inside (see also the wiki page)
  • Dissolving the Question - this is where the "free will" puzzle is explicitly posed, along with criteria for what does and does not constitute a satisfying answer.
  • Wrong Questions
  • Righting a Wrong Question

For spoiler posts see free will (solution).

See also

  • How an algorithm feels from the inside
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Posts tagged Free Will
25Free Will as Unsolvability by Rivals
Pavitra
14y
11
78[Intuitive self-models] 3. The Homunculus
Steven Byrnes
1y
39
75Beliefs as emotional strategies
Kaj_Sotala
4y
4
75[Intuitive self-models] 8. Rooting Out Free Will Intuitions
Steven Byrnes
10mo
20
32[link] Scott Aaronson on free will
DanielVarga
12y
109
26A cognitive algorithm for "free will."
DirectedEvolution
4y
27
21The scope of "free will" within biology?
Jay_Schweikert
14y
30
20My summary of Eliezer's position on free will
Solvent
14y
101
13How to deal with the sense of demotivation that comes from thinking about determinism?
Q
SpectrumDT, Carl Feynman
2y
Q
71
12How would not having free will feel to you?
Shmi
12y
70
12Free will as an appearance to others
Yuxi_Liu
6y
21
10Dissolution of free will as a call to action
Dr_Manhattan
14y
11
10What is the subjective experience of free will for agents?
QΩ
Gordon Seidoh Worley
5y
QΩ
19
8What is it like to be a compatibilist?
Q
tslarm
2y
Q
72
8Separate morality from free will
PhilGoetz
14y
85
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