Re: Newcomb\'s Paradox
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I think you (or perhaps the religious people you speak of) might need a shave. With Ockham's razor, that is. If expanded notions of time and causality are needed to reconcile the simultaneous belief in free will and determinism, then it is probably better to simply accept that these ideas are contradictory.
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I thought I was very clear in stating that none of the religious part of this was my view. I am not religious AT ALL, for the third time. I was using that as an example to illustrate the fact that there is more to the argument than the OP -- and you -- seem to think. It was perhaps misleading to say that determinism and free-will can co-exist.
Rather, the fact that things can be predicted accurately (even 100% of the time) is not inconsistent with the idea of free will, at least not with many people's conception of it, including mine. How would you react if I could predict everything you would say and do? Would you no longer believe you had free will? And don't say it's impossible that I could do that -- I'm making a point about your concept of free will, assuming you believe in it. My point is, if I started doing that, and was consistently right, would you still believe in your own free will? Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn't. But it certainly would not be a clear-cut logical answer, at least IMO.
gm
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