The clockwork universe: is free will an illusion?

Concart said:
I don't believe in free will. Our decisions are a product of chemical and electrical processes that we have no control over. It's the programming. We are each wired to do exactly what we do. That being said, there are so many factors that determine the outcome that we could make a completely different choice if one variable changes. So I think 'free will' is more like a random number generator than some choice 'we' make. Frankly, 'we' are just matter and energy.
Click to expand...

/turns off Concart's switch until its time to hear from him again......
 
BidenPresident said:
In the article a case of someone with a brain tumor grabs a rifle and kills people. But everyone with a brain tumor does not go out and murder.
Click to expand...

Correct. Because there are so many factors influencing that decision that it might appear to be a choice when in fact it isn't. Why do some people rush into a burning building at the risk of their own safety? Is it because they chose? Or is it because the negative impact of not doing that outweighed the risk for that person. Someone else would make a completely different decision.
 
Concart said:
Correct. Because there are so many factors influencing that decision that it might appear to be a choice when in fact it isn't. Why do some people rush into a burning building at the risk of their own safety? Is it because they chose? Or is it because the negative impact of not doing that outweighed the risk for that person. Someone else would make a completely different decision.
Click to expand...

Got it. Determinism ultimately does not explain anything.
 
Concart said:
Correct. Because there are so many factors influencing that decision that it might appear to be a choice when in fact it isn't. Why do some people rush into a burning building at the risk of their own safety? Is it because they chose? Or is it because the negative impact of not doing that outweighed the risk for that person. Someone else would make a completely different decision.
Click to expand...

But now you are simply defining choice to not be choice. That is nothing but a philosophical black hole attempting to be bright sunshine.
 
Poor Richard Saunders said:
If we have no free will then no one made him start this thread. It was simply preordained because subatomic particles that came together to form him will always act that way at that point in time.
Click to expand...

so your answer is subatomic particles forced you to answer my question........that may go a long way toward explaining what's wrong with your posts........
 
Poor Richard Saunders said:
But now you are simply defining choice to not be choice. That is nothing but a philosophical black hole attempting to be bright sunshine.
Click to expand...

The problem I have with free will deniers is they have no explanation for what free action is. My decision to laundry on Monday at 2PM is just a function of a deterministic universe. That explains nothing.
 
Poor Richard Saunders said:
But now you are simply defining choice to not be choice. That is nothing but a philosophical black hole attempting to be bright sunshine.
Click to expand...

You can call it 'choice' but is it really? Science would likely say no. But I agree that to some extent it's a semantics discussion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top