Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

BMCsoccer01's picture

I-function & Individuality

I thought that our discussion about the I-function box in class this past week was very eye opening to unique physical and emotional responses seen in different individuals. I think that Sarah Tabi brought up a good point in her post above when she addressed the evident observation that one person's thoughts or actions may differ from another's based upon each person's I-function that connects all the other boxes (neurons) in our nervous system. This reinforces that an individual acts on one's surroudings more so then our external environment acts upon us. However, what then is the case for free will? If we are pre-constructed in the womb and built so that our I-function is in command of all of our inputs, then can we say that "I am..." or should we say: "My inner computer is...". We're hardwired a certain way from birth, thus we could possibly have different thoughts or actions if we had been strutured differently. We act based on our thoughts more so than our surroundings but those thoughts are a product of our predetermined biological structure before we came into existence.    

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
7 + 0 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.