Ben,

Reading further, I thought I’d raise my own thoughts on free will, versus determinism(Which I may have previously);

Which goes to the question of time. We view time narratively, past to future, so the past is cause of the future and thus determined by it.

Yet if we view time as emerging from a dynamic present, as in the change turns future to past, then the computation that determines, only exists as the present. The input into future events cannot be fully known and only crudely modeled, so the output can’t be known either.

While the notion of free will arises as a counter-point to determinism, it overlooks the fact that will free of cause would be equally free of effect and the premise of will is to affect.

We are part of nature’s process of selection.

In this relationship between energy and the forms manifest, the energy being conserved and dynamic, is this physical state and its changing forms create the effect of time. So energy goes past to future, while the patterns generated go future to past.

Given that consciousness goes from one thought to the next, as these thoughts come and go, it would seem that consciousness functions somewhat similar to energy, while thoughts are the forms it manifests. Like the energy of a wave manifests frequency and amplitude.

Now the energy driving us is largely the food we consume, though it might be a more effective analogy to say consciousness is the flame consuming that food.

The light shining through the images on the screen of our mind. Going past to future frames, as the frames go future to past.

So while this mind might seem immaterial, maybe it is because our minds “see” static forms, like the images on the screen and view the process as effect.

That the doing arises from the being. Verbs from nouns.

Yet the other way might better explain our impulsive nature. That we are driven by our passions and the mind only referees among them. Such as between short term desires and longer term goals. Say between a physical interaction and maintaining the respect of the other person. Then it starts becoming the balancing act of life, rather than an either/or of simple good/bad, black/white distinctions.

Better call it a day.