A bevy of experiments in recent years suggest that the conscious mind is like a monkey riding a tiger of subconscious decisions and actions in progress, frantically making up stories about being in control.
As a result, physicists, neuroscientists and computer scientists have joined the heirs of Plato and Aristotle in arguing about what free will is, whether we have it, and if not, why we ever thought we did in the first place.
–Dennis Overbye, Free Will: Now You Have It, Now You Don’t
Fascinating article. Engage your eyeballs and invest your brain; it’s worth it.
That first paragraph is enough to grab me. “Monkey riding a tiger”, indeed! I’m off to read the whole thing…
wow, what a ride that article was. makes my mind melt a little bit thinking about it. erg.
Yeah, I picked up on that article the day it was published and shared it with a number of folks. It can make your head hurt. It certainly buttresses the emphasis on consistent practice (if one practices) and the difficulties associated with practice.