An argument against materialism

[bahman]

According to Epiphenomenalism the conscious decision does not have any causal effect in the universe since the system is closed and moves based on laws of nature. Evolution in another hand does not grant a trait (the illusion of having the ability to make decision) which is highly useless and improbable. This is where materialism looks very unlikely.

[Troll]

It is interesting to speak of a useless trait. However, is it useless? I'm not sure Epiphenominalism can not mean something else, i.e., that the awareness and the physical state are two sides of the same coin. Ergo, the movement of the atoms, and the agent, are the same thing, we are the determination which is "not free". It's not clear, 1,what operative definition of determination could ever be hoped for? And, 2, the simple account in the film Minority Report seems decisive: if we know a ball is going to fall, we break into the system of the determination and disrupt it. And to speak of knowing the whole is meaningless, since the knowledge is part of the whole.