Altered notions of autonomy have threatened the religious obscurantism out of my

backbone.
The concept of I did not create the arena in which it arose. The concept of Caty
is governed by an elusive will. Ideas of self-control are causal notions, i.e. they are
the product of something before them. That which makes me deliberate and act as I
do occurs prior to my conscious awareness. Its all filed away in there. There are
neural documents programming my current state that are not accessible to me, but
are just as much me as my fingernail. We feel that we are the agents behind our
experience because we are not intimately acquainted with the motor neurons,
muscle fibers and neurotransmitters that have fashioned us as phenomenological
puppeteers.
Philosopher Daniel Dennett defines control as:
CONTROL: A controls B if and only if the relation between A and B is such that A can
drive B into whichever of Bs normal range states A wants B to be in.
Will controls Caty if and only if the relation between will and Caty is such that will
can drive Caty into whichever of Catys normal range states will wants Caty to be
in.
OR
Caty controls her will if and only if the relation between Caty and her will is such
that Caty can drive her will into whichever of her wills normal range states Caty
wants her will to be in.
Do I drive my will? No. Tough habits make it hard to break and the engine is difficult
to reason with. This must mean that the former is true. My will drives me, I do not
drive my will. If you doubt this, please, decide your next intention! Quick! Initiate a
neuromuscular junction!
If you know that it would be in your best interest to go for a walk, but you simply do
not feel like going for a walk, will you take that walk? You can attempt to derail your
unwillingness to put one foot in front of the other, but you cant change your mind.
If you do take that meaningful walk in the park its because your mind changed you.
Lets agree that you feel you need to go on that walk just to prove you have the
choice in the matter. You do not choose to feel threatened by the debunking of your
metaphysical autonomy, the state finds you. Even as youre reluctantly picking
flowers in the meadow, you cant help but feel the way you feel. You are not in
touch, in a first-person sense, with the inner workings of your brain which cause you
to act as you do.
Theres poster on the wall in the building in which Im currently writing. I could get
up and take it down, but I dont want to. Can I control the fact that I simply dont
feel it necessary to rearrange the public setting in which Im currently lodging? What
if I suddenly contracted the urge to do so? If I became ill with some sort of venereal
disease of self-determination, things would be different than they are right now.
Could I talk myself out of it if my brain simply felt that it was imperative that I alter

the location of the poster? No. I can only respond to the brain states provided for
me.
Do I have the power to choose the next thought that will show its face in my
prefrontal cortex? No more than I can decide if and when I will initiate a sneeze. I
can take steps to prevent my sneeze (I can plug my nose, close my mouth,
whatever) just as I can attempt to attempt change the subject in my mind, but I
cannot influence the current of my thought process directly. I cant help that a
psychical provocateur is in my mind in the first place. I can only witness it and
respond accordingly. Does anyone have a tissue?
Got to go. Personal notions of clarity have been established. I'm gonna go carry out
my will sans Calibri light 11.