Discussion Do you believe in free will?

[wayn]

Brain studies suggest that our decisions are influenced by neural activity, which may be beyond our conscious control.

But honestly it's more complex than this. Since human decision-making is influenced by a variety of factors, including emotions, memories, and reasoning. This complexity suggests that our choices are not entirely determined by a simple cause. Anyway I would like to hear yall thoughts on this.

 

[carac]

I will put it this way, I don't believe we don't have free will. This is because I don't see the case for determinism so in some sense we are free because we aren't held captive to a single course. Whether that is randomness or we have conscious control I don't know. I do tend to lean toward believing we have some form of free will though.

 

[pyx]

no since free choice does not constitute a volition, so free choice arguably ≠ free will

 

[wCvML2]

No, there isn't free will but the amount of variables that lead to each decision is too much for even the strongest computer in the planet to predict its outcome. It is all cause and effect. There isn't any evidence to support free will or reason to explain why there would be free will in the first place other than religious belief. The brain is a physical organism, it can't be free from its physical limitations and can't stretch beyond the set neuroplasticity. If a surgeon will lobotomize me, I'll have a different personality. It can happen also with neurodegenerative disorders.

 

[Forever Sleep]

To an extent- yes.

I think our decision making is highly influenced by a number of factors- genetics, upbringing, life experiences, the current situation we find ourselves in and ability to cope with it but, I think we still get the final say. Basically- I think the majority of people have been taught what's right and wrong. Even if they are more inclined to do wrong things- they likely know they are doing them so- could potentially choose not to.

The problem I have with saying we don't have free will is, to my view, it lets criminals off the hook. It wasn't their fault that they murdered or raped that person or, molested that child. Sorry but- they are liable most likely. They knew it was wrong but, they did it anyway knowing the damage it would cause. Plus- they simply can't have been so clueless that what they were doing was wrong or, powerless to resist it if they make a conscious effort to cover their tracks and not get caught which I imagine- a lot do.

Additionally, other people with the same thoughts, don't act on them. Maybe you could argue they are more genetically gifted in terms of resisting temptation or, they had a stricter upbringing defining right and wrong. I'm not entirely convinced though. Not all people from difficult backgrounds go on to harm others and vice versa.

Plus, how could someone commit suicide if we didn't have free will? Surely, suicide has go to be the ultimate antithesis to all that is naturally and socially coded in to us.

 

[avoid]

Spoiler: Kurzgesagt YouTube video - Do you have a free will?

Yes, I believe in free will. There are many people who have debated this topic on a philosophical level. As far as I'm aware, there's no definitive proof that free will exists or not. So people are free to choose in what they believe: live and let live. However, one of my pet peeves is when someone uses the lack of a free will as an excuse for how their live turned out badly.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

It's important to note that, at least to my knowledge, a lot of those studies involve participants engaging in simplistic repetitive tasks. As to whether or not and to what degree the results would be reflected in a real-world setting where one is likely to be engaging in more complex decision-making is something that needs to be answered (at least from what I know).

 

[Hvergelmir]

I think it's a matter of perspective.

Disregarding unscientific beliefs and souls, and such, "cause and effect" and "free will" are on completely different abstraction levels.
If everything is cause and effect, it must also include what we consider free will.

"Free will" as a concept clearly exists on a subjective macro level. It's a helpful abstraction to conceptualize our decision making.
I don't see the exact nature of either "will" or "freedom" as relevant in that context.

We could of course stop using such abstractions and instead think of people as automatons or physical chain reactions, but I've never seen such models result in anything desirable.

Thus it's not about belief to me. I choose to use "free will" as an everyday high level concept, because it's intuitive and helps me understand myself and my surrounding.

 

[wayn]

You guys got some really good point. It was nice to read them.

 

[MiraiShisen]

I dont believe we have free will. We just beahve in a pattern human body is programed to, and ofc there are differences because of how this program is written, if you have flaws in your genetic code then you will behave slightly/ or more different than others. Did you choose that you will live your life in a day and sleep during night? Did you choose to have urge to have a sex? TO be sexually atracted to other gender (or dont) and so on... we dont have any control, we think we have. IF by free will you ment daily almost irrelevant decision making like I am gonna listen that kind of music or watch that move instead of other then yes I think there is some level of free will. But I am not that sure, it can still be decided by our brains and hormones, your current mood or what we are used to. If life really had a free will it would extinct long time ago.

 

[Skal]

I dont believe we have free will. We just beahve in a pattern human body is programed to, and ofc there are differences because of how this program is written, if you have flaws in your genetic code then you will behave slightly/ or more different than others. Did you choose that you will live your life in a day and sleep during night? Did you choose to have urge to have a sex? TO be sexually atracted to other gender (or dont) and so on... we dont have any control, we think we have. IF by free will you ment daily almost irrelevant decision making like I am gonna listen that kind of music or watch that move instead of other then yes I think there is some level of free will. But I am not that sure, it can still be decided by our brains and hormones, your current mood or what we are used to. If life really had a free will it would extinct long time ago.

I agree with this. We feel freedom when we can do whatever we want, but thing is, we can't choose what we want, even though we like to think we can.
You like cats? Good, but did you intentionally choose it? No, it's more of our animal instinct to be attracted to animals close to humans. And thus our brain dictates what we want/like, and we have to satisfy these requests, otherwise it punishes us by making us feel uncomfortable. If you successfully gets the job done, then it gives us "a sense of freedom" as a reward, which is just carrot and stick - almost like slavery; we could never get true freedom as long as our brain dictates us.
But what if our brain stopped dictating us? Wouldn't that make us truly free?
Well, if our brain stopped dictating us, then we'd also stop doing anything (even thinking/feeling anything), because nothing would dictate us anymore. And that'd just be the same as a vegetative state, or better yet "death." So instead of doing whatever we want, true freedom means doing nothing, without thinking or feeling anything, and that's essentially death. That's what I think.

 

[Mirrory Me]

I don't think anyone believes they are free to do what they want (except god).

 

[spottem]

No.