A "freedom that is worth having" is a freedom that actually confers some benefit. THe freedom to do what you want is worth having (in general, I'm sure you can come up with pathological cases). "Freedom" from determinism - which means simply adding a random element to your decisions confers no real benefit.
Even if a freedom not worth having is physically possible it's a moot point.
quote:
When something is done by a person (or indeed a salmon), it is being done because it has already been predetermined by the brain state.
To clarify that it is NOT done independantly of the actual process of deciding - it is the outcome of that process that is fixed - but it only happens because the process is followed. There is no way to shortcircuit that.
quote:
I thought of an analogy for all those people why say "ah well, if my life's all predetermined anyway, what's the point? I might as well not bother."
This is where Fatalism and Determinism part company. Under Fatalism the view expressed above is correct. Under Determinism it's just an arbitrary self-justification that could be applied to any decision. Because determinism is based on cause-and-effect your actions do matter (since they will be causes as well as effects). So you can't argue that your actions won't make a difference (as you could under Fatalism) - all you can say is that it was determined that you would act that way.