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Started By
Message
Does free will exist?
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:33 pm
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:33 pm
Or is it an illusion, with every choice we make predicted by our genes and our brain's hard wiring?
Why can't child molesters just will themselves to stop molesting? Neuroscience says it is because they ultimately have no control. Human consciousness gives us the illusion of control. Obviously, this sort of thinking could put religion out of business.
Discuss.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/theres-no-such-thing-as-free-will/480750/
quote:
In recent decades, research on the inner workings of the brain has helped to resolve the nature-nurture debate—and has dealt a further blow to the idea of free will. Brain scanners have enabled us to peer inside a living person’s skull, revealing intricate networks of neurons and allowing scientists to reach broad agreement that these networks are shaped by both genes and environment. But there is also agreement in the scientific community that the firing of neurons determines not just some or most but all of our thoughts, hopes, memories, and dreams.
Why can't child molesters just will themselves to stop molesting? Neuroscience says it is because they ultimately have no control. Human consciousness gives us the illusion of control. Obviously, this sort of thinking could put religion out of business.
Discuss.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/theres-no-such-thing-as-free-will/480750/
25
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:34 pm to Slippy
No
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:34 pm to Slippy
quote:
Does free will exist?
Yes
quote:
Or is it an illusion, with every choice we make predicted by our genes and our brain's hard wiring?
No
quote:
Does god control us?
No
God doesnt control us either. He created us, but he hasnt done much since then.
This post was edited on 7/3/17 at 7:39 pm
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:34 pm to Slippy
when you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:34 pm to Slippy
We're all just a bunch of walking chemical reactions.
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:36 pm to LakeViewLSU
Google determinism. It's like fatalism but not retarded.
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:39 pm to Walking the Earth
quote:
Yes. Chaos theory and shite.
Randomness does not equal agency.
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:39 pm to Slippy
The Atlantic is just trying to make excuses for a big portion of the Democrat voter base and kid diddlers
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:40 pm to Slippy
"No man is free. Only children and fools think
Elsewise."
-Tywin Lannister
Elsewise."
-Tywin Lannister
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:41 pm to Slippy
The idea that there is no free will is self-defeating. Free will is literally the basis of all reason.
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:42 pm to Slippy
nope
quote:
“In human freedom in the philosophical sense I am definitely a disbeliever. Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity. Schopenhauer’s saying, that “a man can do as he will, but not will as he will,” has been an inspiration to me since my youth, and a continual consolation and unfailing well-spring of patience in the face of the hardships of life, my own and others’. This feeling mercifully mitigates the sense of responsibility which so easily becomes paralyzing, and it prevents us from taking ourselves and other people too seriously; it conduces to a view of life in which humor, above all, has its due place.” -Einstein
This post was edited on 7/3/17 at 7:43 pm
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:45 pm to Slippy
Of course free will exists.
It was your will to create this thread.
No one stopped you.
It was your will to create this thread.
No one stopped you.
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:46 pm to Slippy
Predestination versus free will has been the debate since the beginning of time.
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:51 pm to Slippy
It both does and does not exist at the same time. Take another bong hit and ponder that.
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:56 pm to Jim Rockford
So you can clearly not choose the cup in front of YOU!
Posted on 7/3/17 at 7:59 pm to Slippy
I can't stop being an a-hole
Or gay
Or gay
Posted on 7/3/17 at 8:00 pm to Slippy
I chose to downvote this thread
Posted on 7/3/17 at 8:02 pm to Slippy
I was asking myself this question this morning.
If I seek approval from an attractive woman, is she free to find me attractive too ? Is she free to have desires for me or is a consequence of genetics and learned behavior ? Why does she like round shaped faces or guys with shaved heads ? Is that her choice ? Did she choose to become attracted to a particular guy ?
Obviously, if I dress like a slob and am a serial killer, then no normal lady would desire me but what if I do my best with hygiene and clothes and a good job and I still cannot attract a lady ? Is that my fault a woman isn't attracted to me if she doesn't have free will ? Am I competing against neurons and neurotransmitters of another brain ?
If I seek approval from an attractive woman, is she free to find me attractive too ? Is she free to have desires for me or is a consequence of genetics and learned behavior ? Why does she like round shaped faces or guys with shaved heads ? Is that her choice ? Did she choose to become attracted to a particular guy ?
Obviously, if I dress like a slob and am a serial killer, then no normal lady would desire me but what if I do my best with hygiene and clothes and a good job and I still cannot attract a lady ? Is that my fault a woman isn't attracted to me if she doesn't have free will ? Am I competing against neurons and neurotransmitters of another brain ?
This post was edited on 7/3/17 at 8:05 pm
Posted on 7/3/17 at 8:04 pm to Slippy
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