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frnzprf t1_j9f5jcx wrote

Reply to comment by loopsataspool in Often mischaracterized as a rather debaucherous, hedonistic philosophy, Epicureanism actually focuses on the removal of pain and anxiety from our lives, and champions a calm ‘philosophy as therapy’ approach in pursuit of life’s highest pleasure: mental tranquility. by philosophybreak

That's interesting! Does the sum of the atomic swerves determine the will - which doesn't sound free to me - or does the will determine the sum of the atomic swerves?

This has nothing to do with epicureanism, but I always thought micro-phenomena determine macro-phenomena - that seems more obvious to me - but you can also think about the possibility of macro-phenomena determining micro-phenomena.

For example in video games, sometimes when a character walks over rough terrain or stairs, the legs are positioned such that the body in a specified position is supported by them. Keyword "inverse kinematics" How Link's Climbing Animation Works in Breath of the Wild (10:48)

Maybe it's impossible to determine if the real world works "process-oriented" bottom-up or "goal-oriented" top-down. It might be impossible to determine empirically. When you assume a bottom-up physics, you will find a bottom-up physical laws (~ forward kinematics). In games, the apparent laws of physics are sometimes broken when no satisfying reason for a desired goal state can be found. That's when a character hovers in the air, "because" their feet aren't long enough to reach the ground or when a character is too far away from the place he is supposed to be, he is yanked there by invisible rubber bands.

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onestarkknight t1_j9fehp0 wrote

'your' world (that is, your experienced reality) probably does both. There is always a bottom-up process orientation happening to resist the ground and gravity and that determines which hemisphere of your brain is getting more pressure-generated sensation and therefore more activity depending on the leg you're standing on. That orientation then also has to form the basis of a goal-oriented hand-to-ground stability that works in more of a top-down manner. For the large majority of humans that usually happens on the right side/left hemisphere

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