Hello Lorraine
Thank you for your comments.
I don't disagree that "spontaneity" could be described as "free will" (my "willfulness") or "creativity." But they run the risk of being criticized as anthropomorphic. "Spontaneity" seems the most basic, natural description.
I used to be a programmer too. I've never met a programmer who believed in AI.
I look forward to reading your essay.
Dear James,
My proposal concerns both epistemology and ontology. I think that there is only knowledge and reason. The challenge is to understand the knowledge here versus the knowledge there (how it is distributed across space and time). We need to distinguish the knowledge in a particle from our knowledge about the particle.
"I see spontaneity as an autonomous capability of an individual entity. As autonomous, an individual can be influenced, but not determined."
Yes, I agree (although I use different terms to describe this).
"Knowledge is one of the influences on a cognitive individual."
I believe it is the only influence. I would distinguish internal knowledge in the form of inertia (momentum) from external knowledge in the form of forces. The knowledge of an individual (analogous to inertia in this case) is only a partial cause of the individual's future. Other causes are external forces. And all of those causes together are not sufficient to fully determine the future. The undetermined portion is 'spontaneity' (according to my interpretation of your ideas). I would call it uncertainty.
If we consider all the information of an individual as well as the environment, then the uncertainty about the individual's future is further reduced (relative to only the information of the individual). However, I believe that the there is uncertainty about the future even if all the information in the universe is considered. Therefore spontaneity and free will exist with respect to both epistemology and ontology (I believe these are not fundamentally distinct, although obviously an individual has only a small portion of the information in the universe, and thus cannot be certain of reality).
Thank you again for your essay, and I hope to continue our discussion in the future.
Best wishes,
Christopher
