Again, you forgot the missing CTD component in your timeline (of the "I issued" action). Was this ("issuing") the conscious component or the reactive unconscious component happening in reality? -- remember: one can't be conscious of 'something' if there is 'nothing' [no (pre-existing) 'something'] to be conscious of. Both components of CTD exist, not just one.Steve3007 wrote:So I issued the conscious command to catch the ball at step 3.
RJG wrote:If CTD exists, then a 'time lag' exists, and if a time lag exists, then ‘everything’ one is conscious of, has ALREADY HAPPENED. If it has already happened, then it has already been caused. If it has already been caused, then it is too late to ‘cause’ it.
No, not possible. Consciousness is always 'after-the-fact'. The events in reality are always a step ahead of one's conscious realization of these events. In other words, the writing in the diary 'preceded' the consciousness of writing in the diary.Chili wrote:RJG can you run through how these issues apply in this scenario?
* a person wakes up, gets out of bed, and writes a diary entry about what it's like to be alive, muses about consciousness, etc.
In other words, what - if anything - is evidenced by an individual's reports of consciousness? Is the fact of consciousness somehow affecting what is written? Is the fact of consciousness itself somehow causing or influencing the content of the report?
Imagine reading words in a book. Your consciousness of each and every word always "lags" the reality of the very next sequential word. If you wish to be the writer (causer) of the next word to read (experience), then you have to beat reality to that next word. But, even when you try to read faster, you can't ever seem to catch up to that next word. It is always ahead of you; all attempts are futile. One can never 'write' the next word to read. (...nor 'cause' the next event to experience.)
Since consciousness (of-reality) always "lags" reality, it is impossible for consciousness to influence, or to have any causal effect, on the events occurring in reality.
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Conscious causation - aka "free-will", conscious-control, mental causation - are all just feel-good fairy tales, that are not logically possible.