Do you believe you have Free Will?, a philosophical debate Options

[Testm0nkey]

Yes, but our actions are heavily influenced by circumstances in the world around us.

and those actions are dictated and sometimes predetermined by your brain. even to things like your career path.

before you actually are consciously aware of your desire to move your finger your brain triggers motor neurons in your brain to move it.
you are made conscious of this "free will choice of movement" per say when your brain moves your finger for you. you arent deciding anything.
and its obvious if there is such a thing as free will humans are one of the few life forms to have it. i dont know the religious ideas of free will if its just a man thing or god created everything with it

[Divergent Realit...]

yaaaaaaaay

biology vs theology

now we need someone arguing for machine free will.

[Testm0nkey]

its a mind vs body problem. its been debated for centuries and one of the sparks (if not the first) that created the study of psychology

[Jim]

that makes no sense... if it was pre-determined, then you didn't have a choice. you can't have a pre-determined choice.

How can an Omnipotent God know everything yet still give you free choice?

I'm just saying, not trying to bring god in, but it's the same argument being offered here.

[Testm0nkey]

keep this going!

this idea is one of the major reasons why i chose to go into behavioral neuroscience for grad school

[James]

Think all the posters have already posted

[kcroxyoursox]

if you choose to steal something, you have wieghed and considered the options and did it of your own free will in your mind

Here's the way I see it-


God:Shakespeare::KC:Juliet

Shakespeare wrote what will happen. Just like God (or Allah, or whoever) wrote what will happen. Though she may have had "a choice," if she hadn't drank the poison, she wouldn't be Juliet.

You may think you have a choice, but whatever you "choose" was what you were intended to choose. If you make a choice, and then do the opposite of that choice, you were always meant to do the opposite, no matter what you "chose"

[schwab]

yes

[Billy]

Nope.

[FORSAKENR320]

Here's the way I see it-
God:Shakespeare::KC:Juliet

Shakespeare wrote what will happen. Just like God (or Allah, or whoever) wrote what will happen. Though she may have had "a choice," if she hadn't drank the poison, she wouldn't be Juliet.

You may think you have a choice, but whatever you "choose" was what you were intended to choose. If you make a choice, and then do the opposite of that choice, you were always meant to do the opposite, no matter what you "chose"

i kinda see what you are saying, it's a difficult concept to keep a firm grasp of in my mind, is the problem.

i see similar to what you say... but shakespeare knew that juliet was going to take the poison BEFORE he wrote the story. maybe juliet took the poison of her own free will... shakespeare knew she would do it, so he wrote the story so that she would take the poison....



i tried to imagine it as playing chess, or battle tactics... you anticipate what the other person is going to do, and then plan in advance for it. knowing that someone is going to place a pawn in B7 and planning your future moves accordingly doesn't infringe on their free will. God could just be the ultimate tactician.

[zetec]

You can choose a ready guide
In some celestial voice
If you choose not to decide
You still have made a choice

You can choose from phantom fears
And kindness that can kill
I will choose a path thats clear
I will choose free will

Are you motherfuckers saying that RUSH IS WRONG?!

[impala454]

I am a Christian, and I believe God has a plan for your life, but it is your own will to follow that plan. Being omnicient doesn't mean he's making people's choices for them, it just means he already knows what you're going to do.

Let me ask you guys this: Person A and Person B. Person A has a time machine and knows for a fact that Person B will choose to eat at McDonalds for dinner later. Meanwhile, Person B has no knowledge of this, and it's dinner time. When Person B chooses McDonalds, was that a pre-determined choice, or his own free will?

[cupcake]

I'm not really sure how anyone could answer "no" to this particular question. Free will is your ability to make choices. Whether it's one as simple as where to get dinner, or as complicated as what career path you want to enter into. Sure, your experiences and beliefs will influence your decisions, but you still have the ability to make choices.

you don't get it because you're early on. you will at some point, but you won't know that you did. it will just be.

old souls recognize things because they've already done them, seen them, or fucked them up. until they are no longer fuckin up.

do you actually believe dudes like mozart are born with the natural gift of perfect composition and piano at 5yrs old (when most kids are working on writing their fuckin name), as in some wild fluke?

they perfect that skill in a previous experience...over and over and over...until one go-'round they "get it"...and that's the last life before graduating to heaven or God or whatever you believe in.

if you've ever met someone who's got it, you'd realize they are not like us. I've met one person who was on his last life...who had everything figured out and led a righteous life. his impact on every person he met was noticeable at the least, and profound as a rule.

I'm a christian who's made his own conclusions based on what I've witnessed, experienced, studied, and meditated on.

there is a plan, and free will is a facade. nothing anyone says can make me believe otherwise.

[Billy]

It would have to be predetermined.

I can program a computer to output two outputs: A and B. Depending on what I input into that computer, it will output A or B. Let's say if I input 1 it gives an 'A' and if I input 2 it gives a 'B'. Now, I input 1 and it outputs an A. Did it choose to output A or is that nothing more than a response to an input?

All of our choices are a response to an input. Depending on that input, we will always have the same output. It is, however, a very complex set of inputs. Inputs include: what is the current situation? what similar event happened in the past and what consequence did it have? And for the more intelligent: what possible consequences will occur in the future?

The answers to these inputs will determine the output response we give...every time. You do not make a choice. You simply respond to a set of inputs accordingly.

[impala454]

you don't get it because you're early on. you will at some point, but you won't know that you did. it will just be.

old souls recognize things because they've already done them, seen them, or fucked them up. until they are no longer fuckin up.

because I'm early on?

do you actually believe dudes like mozart are born with the natural gift of perfect composition and piano at 5yrs old (when most kids are working on writing their fuckin name), as in some wild fluke?

what does this have to do with free will?

there is a plan, and free will is a facade. nothing anyone says can make me believe otherwise.

I think you misunderstand what I'm saying. I also believe God has a plan for your life. I also believe God is omnicient. I think you guys are getting a little too philisophical and not thinking about the simple act of making a decision. I posted a question above and no one has answered it.