Born to do Math 122 - Will and Willpower: Confirmatory Will
Scott Douglas Jacobsen & Rick Rosner
June 1, 2019
[Beginning of recorded material]
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Yes, so, we've been talking off-tape about will and willpower.
Rick Rosner: We don't have to go to straight to IC with this stuff because this is a lot of stuff just being worked on in neuroscience or the hottest term for doing a direct physical observation of the brain and conscious processes.
IC intersects with the stuff. But generally when we talk about this stuff, there is agreement. For our purposes, and I think the brain people would agree to the extent that they agree at all, "will" can be used to refer to consciously mandated decisions.
That is, that you think about something consciously. You decide on a course of action.
Jacobsen: Is this the only formulation of it? Is there another logical progression to call something still will? You think about something. You decide.
Rosner: We can talk about will before information theory. Information theory didn't start until 1948.
Jacobsen: That's a good point. There was no formal definition of information in a mathematical framework before.
Rosner: No, then Clause Shannon developed the theory at Bell Labs.
Jacobsen: Also, Norbert Weiner helped with the probability theory development. I have a copy of the work by Shannon.
Rosner: Before that, 18th and 19th century, it was kind of the feeling, I believe, based on not much knowledge of a soul or a spirit juice existent in some semi-independent realm that decided things, "I am going to do this." The "this" was an expression of self.
The self was somewhat connected to soul. It was connected to the mind, which was this thing that was not necessarily part of the material world. It was operating on the material world and you, as a material being.
It was the puppeteer operating your part of the material world from a different realm or using different stuff. Over the next couple of hundred years, as science and math became more able to explain how the material world can operate itself, how the brain can make the mind, and how everything can work entirely materially without having to resort to some other realm or some magic, it isn't to say that there isn't another framework, as IC postulates that there is an optimal mathematical representation of mind that can be graphed or mapped in its own dimension.
That map or dimension can be tied to the brain. But in terms of describing consciousness and the rules of consciousness, you're, at least, picturing another dimension. It doesn't mean necessarily another dimension. It means a dimension in which your mind works. I haven't been made to make this distinction before. It is not some extra juice.
It is a consequence of information in a massive self-consistent information processing system.
Jacobsen: That brings two things to mind. On the one hand, you have thought about something, say two options come forward. Of those two options, someone selects one and wills towards it, to actualize it in the world.
The other isn't really picking any choice. There isn't anything conscious. They are simply acting on it. It is a one-channel path of acting in the world.
Rosner: According to modern brain science, those things aren't that dissimilar.
[End of recorded material]Rick Rosner: We don't have to go to straight to IC with this stuff because this is a lot of stuff just being worked on in neuroscience or the hottest term for doing a direct physical observation of the brain and conscious processes.
IC intersects with the stuff. But generally when we talk about this stuff, there is agreement. For our purposes, and I think the brain people would agree to the extent that they agree at all, "will" can be used to refer to consciously mandated decisions.
That is, that you think about something consciously. You decide on a course of action.
Jacobsen: Is this the only formulation of it? Is there another logical progression to call something still will? You think about something. You decide.
Rosner: We can talk about will before information theory. Information theory didn't start until 1948.
Jacobsen: That's a good point. There was no formal definition of information in a mathematical framework before.
Rosner: No, then Clause Shannon developed the theory at Bell Labs.
Jacobsen: Also, Norbert Weiner helped with the probability theory development. I have a copy of the work by Shannon.
Rosner: Before that, 18th and 19th century, it was kind of the feeling, I believe, based on not much knowledge of a soul or a spirit juice existent in some semi-independent realm that decided things, "I am going to do this." The "this" was an expression of self.
The self was somewhat connected to soul. It was connected to the mind, which was this thing that was not necessarily part of the material world. It was operating on the material world and you, as a material being.
It was the puppeteer operating your part of the material world from a different realm or using different stuff. Over the next couple of hundred years, as science and math became more able to explain how the material world can operate itself, how the brain can make the mind, and how everything can work entirely materially without having to resort to some other realm or some magic, it isn't to say that there isn't another framework, as IC postulates that there is an optimal mathematical representation of mind that can be graphed or mapped in its own dimension.
That map or dimension can be tied to the brain. But in terms of describing consciousness and the rules of consciousness, you're, at least, picturing another dimension. It doesn't mean necessarily another dimension. It means a dimension in which your mind works. I haven't been made to make this distinction before. It is not some extra juice.
It is a consequence of information in a massive self-consistent information processing system.
Jacobsen: That brings two things to mind. On the one hand, you have thought about something, say two options come forward. Of those two options, someone selects one and wills towards it, to actualize it in the world.
The other isn't really picking any choice. There isn't anything conscious. They are simply acting on it. It is a one-channel path of acting in the world.
Rosner: According to modern brain science, those things aren't that dissimilar.
Authors[1]
Rick Rosner
American Television Writer
RickRosner@Hotmail.Com
Rick Rosner
(Updated March 7, 2019)
According to semi-reputable sources, Rick Rosner has the world’s second-highest IQ. He earned 12 years of college credit in less than a year and graduated with the equivalent of 8 majors. He has received 8 Writers Guild Award and Emmy nominations, and was named 2013 North American Genius of the Year by The World Genius Registry.
He has written for Remote Control, Crank Yankers, The Man Show, The Emmys, The Grammys, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. He worked as a bouncer, a nude art model, a roller-skating waiter, and a stripper. In a television commercial, Domino’s Pizza named him the "World’s Smartest Man." The commercial was taken off the air after Subway sandwiches issued a cease-and-desist. He was named "Best Bouncer" in the Denver Area, Colorado, by Westwood Magazine.
Rosner spent much of the late Disco Era as an undercover high school student. In addition, he spent 25 years as a bar bouncer and American fake ID-catcher, and 25+ years as a stripper, and nearly 30 years as a writer for more than 2,500 hours of network television. He came in second or lost on Jeopardy!, sued Who Wants to Be a Millionaire over a flawed question and lost the lawsuit. He won one game and lost one game on Are You Smarter Than a Drunk Person? (He was drunk). Finally, he spent 37+ years working on a time invariant variation of the Big Bang Theory.
Currently, Rosner sits tweeting in a bathrobe (winter) or a towel (summer). He lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife, dog, and goldfish. He and his wife have a daughter. You can send him money or questions at LanceversusRick@Gmail.Com, or a direct message via Twitter, or find him on LinkedIn, or see him on YouTube.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Editor-in-Chief, In-Sight Publishing
Scott.D.Jacobsen@Gmail.Com
In-Sight Publishing
(Updated September 28, 2016)
Scott Douglas Jacobsen founded In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal and In-Sight Publishing. He authored/co-authored some e-books, free or low-cost. If you want to contact Scott: Scott.D.Jacobsen@Gmail.com.
He is a Moral Courage Webmaster and Outreach Specialist (Fall, 2016) at the UCI Interdisciplinary Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality (Ethics Center), Interview Columnist for Conatus News, Writer and Executive Administrator for Trusted Clothes, Interview Columnist for Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), Councillor for the Athabasca University Student Union, Member of the Learning Analytics Research Group, writer for The Voice Magazine, Your Political Party of BC, ProBC, Marijuana Party of Canada, Fresh Start Recovery Centre, Harvest House Ministries, and Little Footprints Big Steps International Development Organization, Editor and Proofreader for Alfred Yi Zhang Photography, Community Journalist/Blogger for Gordon Neighbourhood House, Member-at-Large, Member of the Outreach Committee, the Finance & Fundraising Committee, and the Special Projects & Political Advocacy Committee, and Writer for Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Member of the Lifespan Cognition Psychology Lab and IMAGe Psychology Lab, Collaborator with Dr. Farhad Dastur in creation of the CriticalThinkingWiki, Board Member, and Foundation Volunteer Committee Member for the Fraser Valley Health Care Foundation, and Independent Landscaper.
He was a Francisco Ayala Scholar at the UCI Ethics Center, Member of the Psychometric Society Graduate Student Committee, Special Advisor and Writer for ECOSOC at NWMUN, Writer for TransplantFirstAcademy and ProActive Path, Member of AT-CURA Psychology Lab, Contributor for a student policy review, Vice President of Outreach for the Almas Jiwani Foundation, worked with Manahel Thabet on numerous initiatives, Student Member of the Ad–Hoc Executive Compensation Review Committee for the Athabasca University Student Union, Volunteer and Writer for British Columbia Psychological Association, Community Member of the KPU Choir (even performed with them alongside the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra), Delegate at Harvard World MUN, NWMUN, UBC MUN, and Long Beach Intercollegiate MUN, and Writer and Member of the Communications Committee for The PIPE UP Network.
He published in American Enterprise Institute, Annaborgia, Conatus News, Earth Skin & Eden, Fresh Start Recovery Centre, Gordon Neighbourhood House, Huffington Post, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Jolly Dragons, Kwantlen Polytechnic University Psychology Department, La Petite Mort, Learning Analytics Research Group, Lifespan Cognition Psychology Lab, Lost in Samara, Marijuana Party of Canada, MomMandy, Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society, Piece of Mind, Production Mode, Synapse, TeenFinancial, The Peak, The Ubyssey, The Voice Magazine, Transformative Dialogues, Treasure Box Kids, Trusted Clothes.
Endnotes
- Bold text following “Scott Douglas Jacobsen:” or “Jacobsen:” is Scott Douglas Jacobsen & non-bold text following “Rick Rosner:” or “Rosner:” is Rick Rosner.
- Session article conducted, transcribed, edited, formatted, and published by Scott.
- Footnotes & in-text citations in the interview & references after the interview.
- This session article has been edited for clarity and readability.
For further information on the formatting guidelines incorporated into this document, please see the following documents:
- American Psychological Association. (2010). Citation Guide: APA. Retrieved from http://www.lib.sfu.ca/system/files/28281/APA6CitationGuideSFUv3.pdf.
- Humble, A. (n.d.). Guide to Transcribing. Retrieved from http://www.msvu.ca/site/media/msvu/Transcription%20Guide.pdf.
License and Copyright
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Based on a work at www.in-sightjournal.com and www.rickrosner.org.
Copyright
© Scott Douglas Jacobsen, Rick Rosner, and In-Sight Publishing 2012-2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, Rick Rosner, and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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