My presentation on the #neuroscience of decision-making and #freewill in Vienna this past month:
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#freewill
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Constraints aren’t roadblocks—they’re the banks that give the river its force. The first step toward growth is realizing the limits around you are the tools you’ll shape your future with.
#MondayMotivation #CreativeAutonomy #Concupiscere #FreeWill #philosophy #growthmindset
So, I wrote a thing about Free Software. Because it's a big long for a Mastodon thread, I published it on LinkedIn.
And, the enshittified LinkedIn recommendation engine doesn't show it to my followers there (3x as many as here), probably because I talk about empowering users instead of exploiting them, so it's considered a low-quality or unprofessional topic.
Isn't that fun?
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7344638126373433345/
www.linkedin.comAbout puppies in software. | Jean-Baptiste QuéruAbout puppies in software.
In the discussions about Open Source and Free Software, I know (including from experience) that the corporate world prefers the Open Source side, in the sense that the Open Source definition is a set of contract goals, that a contract lawyer can use to evaluate the suitability of a license (i.e. a form of contract) against those goals. Free Software on the other hand defines itself in terms of ethics and user freedoms, which is a far less palatable approach for most corporations.
The definition of Free Software warns us that we should think in terms of free speech, not of free beer, i.e. in terms of a legal right to do certain things, not in terms of not having to pay for something.
I'm not a fan of using those exact 2 poles. Because free-as-in-beer is an important aspect for many users. Because free-as-in-beer is also the freedom to test a product, entirely unrestricted, without having to pay for it, so it is a form of legal freedom in the case of software. I use some Free Software merely for being free-as-in-beer, especially games. Finally, free speech is not necessarily the best type of freedom to model software.
I am evolving toward thinking about Free Software primarily in terms of free will. As a user of Free Software, I can decide how much I use it, I can decide whether I upgrade it or not, I can decide to maintain it for my use case, I can decide to add or remove features, I can decide to extract and re-use functionality for other purposes, I can decide to adapt the software to other hardware or operating systems. I can decide to pay someone I choose to do any of those for me. I have free will.
Free speech is also a part of software, on the side of writing and releasing software. The most recent demo I released for the Atari ST, a few months ago, was written in memory of a fellow demo coder who died in a car crash. However, I didn't need to release the source code of that demo to express that we hadn't forgotten him. Yes, releasing source code is also speech, in that I want to explain to others how my code works.
Now, puppies. When you get a free puppy, you don't have to pay to acquire it. But the lack of an initial cost doesn't negate later costs. The puppy will need to be fed, it will need attention, it will need medical care, it will need to be walked, it will need toys. All of those have costs, whether time or money, because you got the puppy "as is". Free Software tends to be like that. You might use Free Software because it has no upfront monetary cost, but you have to keep in mind that it might have later costs, which you need to be ready for. Don't go use a library like libxml2 and expect that someone will maintain it for you for free forever under your terms. You got it "as is", deal with it, and be grateful that, maybe, the original author or other maintainers will keep working on it and will keep releasing updates as Free Software.
(Image: a screenshot of the demo in mentioned earlier)
Now…
I find myself more like the one being asked.
But I don’t expect to be sought.
And I don’t expect to be easily understood.
That’s not resignation.
It’s alignment with how discovery works.
The process belongs to the seeker.
Always.
A seeker once approached a known wise person and asked:
“Teach me wisdom.”
The answer was gentle but unyielding:
“Wisdom cannot be taught. Only discovered.”
Because real wisdom isn’t something we’re handed…
It’s something we uncover—
When we’re ready.
On Pointing at the Moon: Wisdom, Existence, and Our Shared Horizon
Some lessons can’t be given.
They can only be found.
This is the story of why wisdom needs both conditions and desire—
And why our ability to thrive, grow, and shape the future depends on the same.
Because when the conditions are right…
And when motivation awakens…
Discovery becomes inevitable.
Just published something I’ve wrestled with for months:
Neo-Superdeterminism: Understanding Choice in a Causally Closed Universe.
If causality is closed, what becomes of choice, ethics, design?
For those who feel the weight of freedom — and wonder if its collapse might be a kind of liberation.
Read: https://philpapers.org/archive/MENNUC.pdf
#superdeterminism #freewill #philosophy #ethics #causalclosure
#agency #designethics #systemsthinking #existentialism #writinginpublic
Kevin MItchell helping us move beyond determinism vs. indeterminism to wards an underdetermined universe where caues are constraints and these constraints can happen at multiple levels
Peter Tse starting out his talk on #freewill by outlining different concepts of causality.
Geert Keil talking about challenges to modern day libertarian concepts of #freewill
Up now, Christian List on agency and whether it requires indeterminism.
As we are heading into the lunch break at our confernce on #freewill , here the link to the program which should allow you to register to get access to the live-streams:
Helen Steward asking "who are the agents?" at our meeting on #freewill here in the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
This research area is a fascinating intersection of philosophy, physics and neuroscience! Also nice to see a presentation from Trinity College Dublin.
From: @brembs
https://mastodon.social/@brembs/114663901023485535
MastodonBjörn Brembs (@brembs@mastodon.social)Angehängt: 1 Bild
Henry Potter presenting a conception of indeterminism where the term "underdetermined" will play an important role - or at least so he said last night, IIUC. 😆
#freewill
Henry Potter presenting a conception of indeterminism where the term "underdetermined" will play an important role - or at least so he said last night, IIUC. 
Stephen Mumford https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Mumford argues that indeterminism ist just a necessary, but not a sufficient criterion for Libertarian #freewill
Anne Sophie Meincke gives examples for the principle of alternative possibilities.
Kick-off of the two Distinguished Lectures on "can biology help us defend free will?"
Fortgeführter Thread
"Living authentically is less about becoming something and more about unbecoming everything that isn't actually us."
I just love, how clearly and honest this man expresses his deep thougts with his soothing voice - strong recommendation listening to his channel!
inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=gDAOz_qmgio
(youtu.be/gDAOz_qmgio)
#TheFunctionalMelancholic #Existentialism #Philosophy #Psychology #Determinism #FreeWill #AI