Do you believe in free will?

[ra1n]

Do you believe free will exists?

Or do you believe in Determinism? (the view that every event, including human cognition, behavior, decision, and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences.)

or do you believe both are compatible (compatibilism)....?

discuss.

[EminemBase]

Erm... It's an interesting question that I can never fully decide on.

I mean... I do think we have an illusion of free will. Like... You really could explain almost every thinkable choice you make and think of as 'free' if you looked deep enough.

Like you may think when you went to the kitchen to get a drink, milk was your free choice at that time. When in reality... You probably chose it because your body was lacking more in X and Y and therefore made you want the milk more than the juice or whatever.

So you could explain basic food and diet choices we think of as free biologically. Even more so than that too. Even as far as to say... People with a certain blood-type are more likely to like this because of dot dot dot. And that if you have a slow metabolism you're more likely to... You could come at this sort of thing from so many angles and explain so many things like this.

Determinism is interesting but I haven't really studied it well enough to make a full judgment. I mean, I don't believe things are pre-determined as in... Planned out for us. I know determinism isn't really this but just wanted to make that clear first.

So on determinism... I mean. It's very mind-boggling when you truly think in this way. Because just think, just think basic. Think... If Brian De Palmer never existed, Quentin Tarrantino may very well not be a director / film-maker or at least not as he is now. And if that were true we wouldn't have Pulp Fiction and therefore would not have X influence on this person and on and on etc.

You could say with no 2Pac there may not of been an Eminem. Eminem fell in love with hip-hop as a genre so there probably would of still been but it wouldn't of been quite the same Eminem. Because 2Pac made an impact on him. So if we didn't have the same Eminem... We wouldn't be sat here discussing this now because everything would be slightly different.

I wouldn't even be the same me... Aw man, you can really drive yourself nuts with it.

[emzee-frenzy]

It's true that we have free will, and can make our own decisions, and what puts us in the position to make a decision is probably someone else's, or an accident of any sort. So no, i don't think everything is meant to b, we have the power to influence the little stuff around of which our life circles.

[mrjizzbomber]

Awesome question...

If you were to recreate every molecule, every atom, every subatomic particle in your body and put it all together, would you have a replica of yourself? I don't think so... I don't believe those two entities would possess the same thoughts, feelings, etc...

I think the difference between that replica and yourself is in the motion of those molecules / atoms / subatomic particles and the relation of these particles to the rest of the universe. Now, if you were to recreate every molecule / atom/ subatomic particle and give them the exact same direction and magnitude of motion (and this includes every molecule, synapse, chemical in your brain) as well as the exact same location in respect to the rest of the universe, then yes, you would have an exact replica. That replica would think feel and do the same as you would. That 'person' would go through life in an identical fashion to how you go through life as your replacement. The fact that that person is NOT you, just an exact replica, would not change the events of your world - ie. it would take the same predetermined actions that you would ('determined' is a bad word here, perhaps 'calculated' is better) .

So, my answer is I technically side with determinism. The location and motion of every molecule and sub-molecule on this planet leads to the inevitability of all future events. This would means that all decisions, actions and events are predetermined and predictable. Well, predictable if you were given the exact location and direction of / magnitude of motion of every single element of the entire universe.

- The Bomber

[ra1n]

Awesome question...

If you were to recreate every molecule, every atom, every subatomic particle in your body and put it all together, would you have a replica of yourself? I don't think so... I don't believe those two entities would possess the same thoughts, feelings, etc...

I think the difference between that replica and yourself is in the motion of those molecules / atoms / subatomic particles and the relation of these particles to the rest of the universe. Now, if you were to recreate every molecule / atom/ subatomic particle and give them the exact same direction and magnitude of motion (and this includes every molecule, synapse, chemical in your brain) as well as the exact same location in respect to the rest of the universe, then yes, you would have an exact replica. That replica would think feel and do the same as you would. That 'person' would go through life in an identical fashion to how you go through life as your replacement. The fact that that person is NOT you, just an exact replica, would not change the events of your world - ie. it would take the same predetermined actions that you would ('determined' is a bad word here, perhaps 'calculated' is better) .

So, my answer is I technically side with determinism. The location and motion of every molecule and sub-molecule on this planet leads to the inevitability of all future events. This would means that all decisions, actions and events are predetermined and predictable. Well, predictable if you were given the exact location and direction of / magnitude of motion of every single element of the entire universe.

- The Bomber

Great response. I agree.

The choice to type this question was predicated by my biochemical state, which arose from the interplay of my nature/nuture, a string of causes which lead inevitably to the point where I'm at right now. I made a choice - branched on a decision tree. But that branching couldn't have happened any way other than how it did. I was not pre-destined to take the particular branch I took... but that choice was determined by the whole of my past, and was predetermined.

Simply:
Our present is determined by our past (environmental / genetic factors)
- All of your decision making processes are governed by unchangeable physical laws.
- Free will is an illusion / we have the impression of free will because we do not know all the factors and events which determine our choices or decisions.

If you could record every influence that a person had encountered during his entire lifetime, you could determine how he would react in a given situation. But this is, of course, impossible.

Stephen Hawking said: "Is everything determined? The answer is yes, it is. But it might as well not be, because we can never know what is determined."

[paradigmal]

So if your supposed belief of determinism is actually true, then you're saying that no one can be blamed for any of their acts neither bad nor good because they were also pre-determined?

[mrjizzbomber]

So if your supposed belief of determinism is actually true, then you're saying that no one can be blamed for any of their acts neither bad nor good because they was pre-determined?

This is quickly turning into my favorite topic ever.

Right now I'm going to leave the half-joke answer that 'the blame is also predetermined', while I think about that one for a while.

- The Bomber

[paradigmal]

We can debate this all we want, but it will eventually lead nowhere, you know this, I know this. We may as well agree to disagree.

[mrjizzbomber]

We can debate this all we want, but it will eventually lead nowhere, you know this, I know this. We may as well agree to disagree.

Did I miss something?

- The Bomber

[paradigmal]

The topic, although open to debate, will eventually lead nowhere. It's one of "those"

[mcZu]

No.

I believe in the Chaos Theory to a certain extend.

[Knight-ofthe-Pen]

well we just think we have a free will
in fact our brain decide for us and just seconds later our mind gives its opinion/explanation/thoughts about the already made decision you made without even noticing you made it

[Xray]

Shit does not exist. It's all mind control.

[gutawafang]

Free will? It's what you like to do, you do rite? I think we can do what we want but in the end we can't.

[mrjizzbomber]

Free will? It's what you like to do, you do rite? I think we can do what we want but in the end we can't.

Elaborate?

And free will means that the events that will occur in our lives are non-predetermined. With free will, even if I had perfect knowledge of the world, I would not be able to predict your future actions. Without free will, I could tell you every single thing that will occur in the rest of your life.

- The Bomber