Determinism and volition, once again...

If one did not choose to think and conform to standards of evidence and logic, then one is appealing to a form of automatic conceptual knowledge i.e. revelation, mysticism.

 

One can not have ‘all the data in the world’ (Heisenberg) and if one did it would still not be a computable problem (no closed form mathematical solution exists even for the classical many-body problem, let alone a problem set within quantum field theory).  Determinism is a fantasy both metaphysically and epistemologically.

 

Trivially, one can make a prediction of whether a man will think or not in three hours exceeding 95% probability if one merely knows the subject’s sleeping habits and makes the prediction at midnight.  A single prediction proves nothing.  To prove determinism one must perfectly predict the entire course of a man’s life, and of everyone he interacts with, and everyone they interact with, .. and so on.  

 

Other threads and other arguments pertaining to volition:

 

The Illusion of Free Will

 

Weak vs. Strong Emergence