---- quote follows ----
Suppose you have before you two closed boxes that you cannot se
inside of:
Box A -- This box holds $10,000.
Box B -- This box either holds $20,000 or nothing.
You are given the following options. You may choose box B
or you may pick both boxes (A and B). In addition, you are told
that God had placed the $10,000 in box A and had placed the
$20,000 in box B depending on what He thought you would do:
nothing would be in box B if God thinks you would choose the
two boxes, or $20,000 would be in box B if God thinks you would
only choose box B.
Question: what would you do? Does God have the ability to
predict with complete accuracy what you would do? Gardner
then posed the question if God is able to always accurately
predict what your action is here, then do you have free will?
---- quote ends ---
This makes the problem quite a bit harder... but I think I can tie in with Ian
Johnston's "evil microbes" thread. The question is whether God really
*intends* for destructive parasites to exist, or whether they are a consequence
of granting radical freedom to the universe itself. Since I have to grade
papers and prepare for a lecture, I don't have time to write anything
pretending to be profound... but this is my current $0.001 before inflation.
Daniel J. Berger | PH: (419) 358-3379
Associate Professor of Chemistry | FAX:(419) 358-3323
Bluffton College | bergerd@bluffton.edu
Bluffton OH 45817-1196 | http://cs.bluffton.edu/~berger/
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Scientists may not believe in God. But they should be taught why
they ought to behave as if they did. -- Max Perutz, Nobel 1962