_Freedom Evolves_ by Daniel Dennett

A couple of days ago I finished reading Freedom Evolves by Daniel C. Dennett, 2003. From the back cover: "Can there be freedom and free will in a deterministic world? Renowned philosopher Daniel Dennett answers with an emphatic yes, showing us how we alone among the animals have evolved minds that give us free will and morality." That's an impressive claim, and I can't say it's false, but unfortunately my own mind hasn't evolved far enough to follow his train of thought. Sigh. Still, I enjoyed reading it as a diversion, and I did come away with a stronger—though still vague—sense that free will does exist, at least for practical purposes at the level at which we live.

Here are quotes of some passages that particularly caught my eye:

Our minds are just what our brains non-miraculously do, and the talents of our brains had to evolve like every other marvel of nature. (p. xiii)

That makes sense to me. And I presume that these talents are continuing to evolve!

In just one species, our species, a new trick evolved: language: It has provided us a broad highway of knowledge-sharing, on every topic. Conversation unites us, in spite of our different languages. (p. 4, emphasis added)

Some rue our isolation as individuals. I certainly know the feeling: despair mixed with panic at being utterly alone in my own head. But for whatever reason, I find it has faded away in my case. Now I am more inclined to feel joy at our ability to share thoughts, however limited the ability may be.

Now, for the first time in its billions of years of history, our planet is protected by far-seeing sentinels, able to anticipate danger from the distant future—a comet on a collision course, or global warming—and devise schemes for doing something about it. The planet has finally grown its own nervous system: us. (p. 4)

Here I disagree. That's a pretty-sounding thought, and maybe humans will develop a Gaia-consciousness in the future, but at this point I'd say we're clearly focused on ourselves. In a science-fiction scenario where the choice is between saving Earth (including some life forms but not humans) and saving the human race (by shipping out to another planet, say), I'm sure we'd pick the latter. Some sentinels! But actually I think that's the better choice: Even a single aware species seems more precious than a planet, however full of beautiful flora and fauna.

People are surprisingly good at distracting themselves from ominous prospects. (p. 9)

How true. Or from irksome responsibilities!

Our natures aren't fixed because we have evolved to be entities designed to change their natures in response to interactions with the rest of the world. (p. 9, Dennett's emphasis)

And just one more quote, the first sentence of the penultimate chapter:

Human consciousness was made for sharing ideas. (p. 259)

Voilà.

Oh, just for the record, here are a couple of posts about books from my previous blog:
Favorite lines from Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
The Meaning of Life by Terry Eagleton