A question on free will.
Firstly, I'd like to explain that for the sake of discussion I'm asserting that Free will does not exist and the question is based on your belief:
If you believe in an omniscient God, that created all, then you have to admit that omniscience precludes free will.
If you want to use science to explain your universe, and do believe what physics tells us, you believe there can be an all unifying theory of everything, then (there is a possiblity) that this will imply that all actions are a result of forces outside of our control.
If neither of these things are your forte, consider instinct, an animal that knows nothing of cause and effect and with no previous experience with the phenomena, will still back away from fire or a precipice, human babies not so much as we've evolved to the point that we're completely dependent on our parents protection.
Also consider a coin toss, if you have a decision you need to make between two options, you can toss a coin for it, try it, i guarantee you'll know before the result is revealed exactly which side you wish it to be, is this because subconsciously you already knew what you wanted, but needed to feel like there was a decision to be made.
Our actions are determined by our brain, therefore it needs to process information before it can tell us the course of action we should take, and our brain functions like the rest of our bodies by the capture and release of chemicals, are we at the mercy of our genetic potentials? Autonomously carrying out actions over which our conscience has the illusion of control, a control that can be illustrated best when it goes wrong, as in the behaviors of those with mental disorders.
Professor Richard Dawkins, coined the term Meme, to be units of cultural significance, a gene influence manifest as a phenotype that while it has no physical form has an effect on our probability of success, could the illusion of freewill be a meme-like manifestation of our need to survive, can the illusion of freewill and the comfort it gives a mind that is becoming more aware of it's environment be just that?
I do admit that there is currently no way to know for sure, but I'd like to get the opinions of others.
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It's an interesting question, and one that I am not arrogant enough to give an absolutist view on. But consider this. You may argue that we are slaves to our brain, that chemicals within us dictate our action before we "choose" to do it. But if this is true, then this is a reaction. When our brain sends chemical messages through our body, our reaction to this is to do what we think we're choosing to do. Notice the emphasis. I contend that, if we can think, then we have the capacity to freely choose. Because if we did not have the capacity to freely choose, why would we need to think? Unless you want to claim that humans do not think, which I think is a pretty plausible axiom, then this would indicate that we have some sort of free will. 1
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This is a good point, and one that I've thought about, just to be clear here, the following is just my thoughts: Thinking could be just our perception of the process of assimilating information into our memory, like how we need to join information together to form memory, such as smells that coincide with our experience. The brain is filing them away, I choose smells because they powerfully evoke memory, have you ever smelled something that's taken you right back to a time and place, including exactly how you felt at the time. I reckon this could be our brain reacting to the stimuli and accessing all of the information about that memory. When we ponder a subject we are invariably creating new information on them for our brains to store in the same place, bringing to the fore, that which we associate with them, consequently it could be possible that the act of thinking doesn't infer the presence of choice, more it bolsters the illusion that we have control over a decision by opening the flow of information to store the new information with it. 1
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I would argue, as I have since year eight in highschool (freshman year?), that humans have no more control over our life than a stone rolling down a hill has control over it's motion. I think too many people think of life as being this ethereal, magical thing, somehow separate from the universe, whereas in truth, we are as much a product of the universe and it's governing laws as any other assortment of atoms. The only difference is that we have consciousness, whatever that actually is, if it is indeed anything at all. As Carl Sagan put it, "we are a way for the cosmos to know itself". 1
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The only difference is that we have consciousness, whatever that actually is, if it is indeed anything at all. I've often spent a bit of time wondering if it's possible that I am the only consciousness that exists, and if I could be inventing everything as I see them. Or, if there is all of the other people, but my interactions with them are completely different to their interactions with me, like if I see colours and shapes, hear music and and understand language in a very different way, meaning their universe is radically different to mine. 1
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humans have no more control over our life than a stone rolling down a hill has control over it's motion. You are very wrong, if you wasted your youth and now have no skills of course you have very little control over your life, but if you developed skills, talents and worked hard, yes, you do have control over your life, not absolute control, but more than others. 1
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Humans are but animals. We have a complex (one of the most) mind: where most animals & life forms have only impulses in reaction to outside stimuli, we have a layered capability to reason and think, yet I'm fairly confident that everything has a cause and an affect, and action with an impulse in reaction. Just like every single other animal. If we truly had free will, this would imply an element of randomness in the way people behave - after all, not everyone would make the same decision. Yet not only do humans act very similarly when put in very similar situations, but there always seems to be an explanation for why people are the way they are. Looking at myself, I see some of the things I love or hate about myself, and I can track them back to specific events, or things I used to do, that made me who I am. That's not free will, I wasn't destined to be who I am today, that's just how things worked out. 1
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At an individual level, no, there are a massive number of variables which affect your life in countless ways. But from a broader perspective, I would still stay away from the word 'destiny'. That implies that whatever happens, you will do something. That implies fixation, and therefore apathy is logical. I disagree with this. It's hard to explain, but do you understand what I mean? |
