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originally posted in:Psykana Librarius
4/4/2015 6:01:33 PM
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[Discussion Thread] Free Will
Do you believe that humans have free will?
This debate is long standing, and has huge ethical implications. I am making this post to collect arguments on both sides of the debate.
Please vote, and then answer these questions:
[quote]Why do you think your choice is correct?[/quote]
[quote]What are the implications of the opposition being correct?[/quote]
[i]Please be calm and respectful in this thread, I encourage discussion, and disagreement is fine, but keep it civil. [/i]
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3 RepliesWhat are the implications? For one, justice system not to do with punishment, but understanding and rehabiliation. I imagine quite easily the budget such a system would require if done ethically. There are obviously many other dangerous (short to mid term problems) that touch on everything from class warfare to religion.
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1 ReplyYes*. *I believe in causality. This implies there is no form of external control over the "decisions" made by humans, be it pre-ordained destiny or space magic. That said, our decisions are largely a result of chemicals, determining what actions to take. Philosophy kicks in at that point, requiring one to define if the involvement of these chemicals constitute a portion of the decision, like gasoline being a part of a car, or are they a form of external influence on the biological machine of our super- and sub-conscience. I don't wish to really spend much time defining that, but I will leave with an interesting point. Recently listened to an episode of Radiolab in which they took brain scans of people as they were asked questions of extreme moral dilemma ('could you kill your child if it would save a village' sort of scenarios). Those able to provide an affirmative answer had some interesting results: the parts of the brain dealing with instinct and 'conscious' choice were lighting up in equal portions, suggesting a moral conflict...until two small lobes right behind the eyes, parts of the frontal cortex responsible for our humanistic consciousness, lit up and "squelched" the instinct portions, reducing the activity in the brain in those regions. Found that to be amazing.
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If you're talking about everything being preordained, then yes, I believe free will exists. If you're asking do we consciously decide what we're going to do? Then no, free will does not exist. Several studies have shown areas of the brain triggering to make a decision whole seconds before the participants where aware of having made the decision (which is a pretty long time neurologically speaking). What's more, these areas act similar to electronic capacitors, with the "charge" that eventually leads to a decision being made starting to build minutes to hours before hand.
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small bump, hardly anyone has been answering my discussion questions ._.
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2 RepliesWhat if we're all just a hologram, living out pre-determined lives and we really have no choice at all, just an illusion of choice. Or maybe we really do exist, but the Hypno Toad controls our every action and brings us closer and closer to true enlightenment. [i]All glory to the Hypno Toad...[/i]
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2 RepliesWould you kindly?
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4 RepliesIllusion of free will.
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Humans can't have free will if god knows everything.
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No free will god controls all
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Small bump
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1 ReplyEdited by Mas: 4/4/2015 10:27:02 PMWhat if all the people voting free will exists, are actually being forced to vote for it by the universe
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1 ReplyI think humans have much more free will than most if not all animals in the animal kingdom. That's what sets us apart. I don't think we have as much free will than we like to think.
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2 RepliesI think it does, but there is definitely a ton of influence that affects peoples' decisions without them realising it.
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We have free will, but how we die and the outcomes of major life events are predetermined.
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2 RepliesFree will does exist. It's a product of evolution though. And can be controlled through surgical means.
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No. We are all determined, yet of course we would have done the same thing anyway. Like a chemical reaction we just react to our environment, there is nothing we can do about it. That's not to ignore the [i]illusion[/i] of free will.
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24 RepliesWhy wouldn't it?
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Edited by iSuperkyIe: 4/4/2015 9:43:07 PMI don't think we know enough about the brain to come to a conclusion for certain, but we definitely seem to have it, and it's probably more rewarding to life as if you have it. I read "Free Will" by Sam Harris (aka Ben Stiller's dipole ganger) it's an interesting subject.
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You have free will as long as you hold an ideal in your thoughts and act in accordance with it. Otherwise you're just a victim of circumstances and your next act will be as a reaction without awareness.
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I Beleive we have free will, but it is our own will that keep us down. We are our worst enemy. But it also depends, people can be in positions where they have no free-will. That is a tough one, humanity has free will, but we take it away from each other...so perhaps we don't later i our life, but some do in the beginning.
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3 RepliesI wonder if toasters know that they're toasters
