Comments on: Free Will versus Determinism: The Web Comic

By: GregS

GregS — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:00:51 +0000

I’m happy to see PhD comics has a large following. I recommend “Axe Cop.” It’s an idea by a five year old boy and illustrated by his 29 year old cartoonist brother. Really made me laugh. It’s freakin’ brilliant!

By: dave

dave — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:04:12 +0000

but there is a joke, dr. landsburg. it is also on page 72.

By: John Faben

John Faben — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:52:07 +0000

Definitely have to second Abstruse Goose – it’s still just as good as xkcd used to be.

By: Snorri Godhi

Snorri Godhi — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:21:25 +0000

This reminds me that it’s been a while since I last looked at
http://www.jesusandmo.net/

Warning: it manages to be both offensive to the religious and un-PC. Those are not problems for me, but sometime I find it a bit preachy (for the church of atheism) or a bit in bad taste; but that is, of course, a matter of taste.

As for free will:
First, I note that it is not necessary to accept determinism to reject free will: true randomness also excludes free will. In fact, I am not sure what people really mean by “free will”, since it can be neither determinism nor randomness, nor any combination limited to these two alternatives.
Second, nonetheless I do accept that we have free will, in the sense that we are free to choose the actions most suited to our goals. (By comparison, a thermostat has a goal, but no choice in what action to use.) What we are not free to do is to choose our goals, except on the basis of meta-goals (or randomly). Thus, if we exclude an infinite regress, we do not have full free will; but what we have is better than nothing, and I would not give it away.

By: MattF

MattF — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:40:24 +0000

Basic Instructions is one of my favorites, and Slow Wave is just... extremely unique.

By: Jonathan Kariv

Jonathan Kariv — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:45:21 +0000

spiked math, order of the stick and abstruse goose (also Phd and xkcd but these have been mentiond above)

http://spikedmath.com/

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0001.html

http://abstrusegoose.com/

By: Perry Bible Fellowship

Perry Bible Fellowship — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:41:00 +0000

Perry Bible Fellowship in my opinion is one of the best comic strips ever created. A random sampling

http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF093-Check_Shots.jpg
http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF205-Robin_Hood.jpg (Steve would love this since I assume he does not like Robin Hood)
http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF146-Bumble_Buzzin.jpg

There is probably not a single comic which one may dislike!!

By: bart.mitchell

bart.mitchell — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:42:33 +0000

Classics. SMBC is one of my favorites. I also love Sluggy Freelance, but you have to read all of them. Its a 11 year story thats’s still going. How can you go wrong with a sociopathic lop eared rabbit, an inflatable space ship, a guy in a trench coat who invents dimension traveling machines in his basement, or an nerd with a magic sword?

On the more serious topic of free will and determinism, I have a question. After reading the arguments and the science, I lost my belief in free will. If humans lack free will, then why are personal freedoms so important?

By: Steve Landsburg

Steve Landsburg — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:47:31 +0000

Martin: These are great. Thank you.

By: Sprobert

Sprobert — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:32:12 +0000

I sometimes get a kick out of Dinosaur Comics:
http://www.qwantz.com/index.php

Some fun ones:
http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=214
http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1341
http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1382