"Free will could all be an illusion..."

"Research adds to evidence suggesting 'even our most seemingly ironclad beliefs about our own agency and conscious experience can be dead wrong'"

The idea was tested out by tricking subjects into believing that they had made a choice before the consequences of that choice could actually be seen. In the test, people were made to believe that they had taken a decision using free will – even though that was impossible.

The idea that human beings trick themselves into believing in free will was laid out in a paper by psychologists Dan Wegner and Thalia Wheatley nearly 20 years ago. They proposed the feeling of wanting to do something was real, but there may be no connection between the feeling and actually doing it....

In one of the studies undertaken by Adam Bear and Paul Bloom, of Princeton University, the test subjects were shown five white circles on a computer monitor. They were told to choose one of the circles before one of them lit up red.

The participants were then asked to describe whether they’d picked the correct circle, another one, or if they hadn’t had time to actually pick one.

Statistically, people should have picked the right circle about one out of every five times. But they reported getting it right much more than 20 per cent of the time, going over 30 per cent if the circle turned red very quickly.

The scientists suggest that the findings show that the test subjects’ minds were swapping around the order of events, so that it appeared that they had chosen the right circle – even if they hadn’t actually had time to do so.

The idea of free will may have arisen because it is a useful thing to have, giving people a feeling of control over their lives and allowing for people to be punished for wrongdoing.

But that same feeling can go awry, the scientists wrote in the Scientific American magazine. It may be important for people to feel they are control of their lives, for instance, but distortions in that same process might make people feel that they have control over external processes like the weather.

House withholds 700 million from State Department.

This person doesn't like it. Nita Lowery, NY, ranking Democrat on the subcommittee said,

The proposed 15 percent cut to the State Department’s operating funds if officials don’t feed the sham investigation of Benghazi is simply atrocious.”

 Jamal Ware, a Republican spokesman on the Benghazi panel said,

“What is it exactly they are afraid the people will find? All this provision does is withhold some non-security related funds until State Department implements a plan to assure policy decisions are transparent to the public.” 

This happened Thursday afternoon. The House approved a bill withholding half a billion dollars from State Department budget until they deliver the requested emails and documents to congress and address the backlog of Freedom of Information Act requests. Once they do then the House will release the money.

Less Government More Fun, Buddy Belk
The US House is withholding $700 million from State, Investment Watch Blog
House panel OKs bill punishing State over Benghazi, The State
and Yahoo News

"Al Gore: Punish climate-change deniers"

"For the third time in the last few years, Al Gore, founder and chairman of the Climate Reality Project, spoke at the festival on Friday. Naturally, his interactive discussion focused on addressing the climate crisis. The former vice president focused on the need to “punish climate-change deniers, saying politicians should pay a price for rejecting ‘accepted science,’” said the Chicago Tribune."

"Gore said forward-thinking investors are moving away from companies that invest in fossil fuels and towards companies investing in renewable energy. “We need to put a price on carbon to accelerate these market trends,” Gore told the Chicago Tribune, referring to a proposed federal cap-and-trade system that would penalize companies that exceeded their carbon-emission limits. “And in order to do that, we need to put a price on denial in politics.” (read more)

Saudi editor sentenced to 7 years and 600 lashes

For founding an internet forum that offends Islam and expounds liberal thought.

Raif Badawi

600 lashes with what? That has got to destroy your back, completely shred it. Why so many? Is the point to kill him? I do not understand this at all.

But I do know this photo of Riyadh is very psychologically revealing.

dailymail.uk