Welcome on Betalab

April 27, 2013

My debunked reality

comic about freewill

Freewill: “the power of making free choices that are unconstrained by external circumstances or by an agency such as fate or divine will.”¹ I have never been a religious person and I have always believed, that we are who we want to be, and that we are completely responsible for who we are and what we do. If something good or bad happens in my life it is thanks to me and not due to some kind of divine intervention or predetermined path.

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April 26, 2013

Holism vs. reductionism: struggle to a new science.

The past couple of decennia have taught researchers to specify in one area of knowledge, inspired by the strong preferences of Descartes for this method. What researchers usually do, is divide the world around us in parts and then look at all those parts in detail, in order to make sense of them. This approach to the world is also called reductionism. As P. J. M. Verschuren states:

March 16, 2013

How much is decided for you?

Cartoon Free will

Derren Brown did a video on subliminal advertising in 2006. In the video he asks two members of MBA, a British advertising company, to design a poster for a store in 30 minutes. The poster has to contain the company name, a slogan and some kind of logo. No information is given besides the fact that it has to be for a chain of taxidermy stores. Before Brown leaves the room to let the two agents work, he gives them an envelope which they cannot open. When the 30 minutes have passed Brown is shown the concept of a poster which is almost identical to the one that was in the unopened envelope.