Episode 69 - Determinator 4 - Rise of the Machines

Post your comments on Episode 69 here.

A Goldberg machine would be the best analogy for determinism. I mean come on look at this image.

I enjoyed this episode. I thought your criticisms of the witch stuff was really thoughtful and I found myself agreeing with nearly all of it.

Also, thanks for addressing one of my questions / responses so clearly. Jeremy, you really did a much better job of explaining the language "problem" in this Podcast than you did in the Don Johnson interview. I can see what you mean now. You've 3 gained a new listener here. (Just recently downloaded the "Disunity of the Bible Part 1" series and I'm listening and taking notes throughout which, by the way, reminds me: A key to a some of the criticisms in of the Tanakh is "Ezra".)

If I may ask one more question: Was there a first cause that got the figurative ball of determinism rolling?

I was very happy to hear a "free will" discussion that admits that 'choices' need causes. I feel like the software analogy was very apt and very accessible for those without the proper background.

Also, that stranger than fiction was absurd! That High School probably takes field trips to the Creation Museum for biology class!

I heard this and couldn't help but relate it to the determinism discussion.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/04/12/midmorning2/

The book is "The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You've Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ Is Wrong". Interesting discussion about how, over the last couple hundred years we have morphed from saying "God given talent" to "Its genetic". (Not everybody of course, just generally speaking). The author says that is still a misnomer, that we shouldn't just chalk things up to genes. He did acknowledge that we are not all created exactly equally, but stressed that hard work and learning from our mistakes is far more important. He approaches it not only from the biology, but from stories of people like Ted Williams, who paid other kids to shag balls for him when he was very young, because he wanted nothing else but to be the greatest baseball hitter.

He tries to balance what is determined by genes and what is the result of hard work. At one point he says, "there is no gene for persistence". Interesting comments about how he wants to change the language we use.