Free will...an illusion?

[The Spawn]

Does anyone believe in the existence of free will?

When you seriously think about it, there is no such thing as free will. For those of you who can't concur, please state your personal reasoning...*

 

[X-Chick]

You have a choice in everything.

 

[Fran]

I agree with you, Spawn. We're under the watch of Big Brother, our government all the time.

We are never truly free until we, well, die.

 

[The Spawn]

You're choices are based on other things.

That means, you don't have a choice.

 

[X-Chick]

No, it doesn't. If someone is holding a gun to your head, you can choose to either cry like a baby and tell the gunman to go **** himself. That's a choice.

 

[Halcohol]

We'd all like to believe that we have control over our lives; that it's not all pre-determined.

I don't know what to believe. It's terrifying to think that I don't have total control over the things that will happen in my life, but it's also terrifying to think that there's no safety net if I truly f**ked my life up.

 

[The Spawn]

Those choices are rendered from your situation...you didn't lay them on the table.

 

[Darren Daring]

I believe that Drakon controls my actions.

 

[jaguarr]

You lack free will only if you believe that to be the case.

jag

 

[Fran]

LOL, I'm not mad at you anymore Brodie

 

[Halcohol]

No, it doesn't. If someone is holding a gun to your head, you can choose to either cry like a baby and tell the gunman to go **** himself. That's a choice.

If you believe in pre-determination, it's already been decided which course of action you'll take. If free will is an illusion, then it's possible to predict the outcome of every decision you'll ever make.

 

[X-Chick]

It doesn't matter, its still your choice that you make for youself. Nobody makes it for you.

 

[Fran]

I believe that God has your life planned out. It's pre-determined, and it's not necessarily free-will, or your choice.

Everything happens for a reason.

 

[X-Chick]

Even if you believe in destiny, it doesn't mean you have no choices along the way.

 

[The Spawn]

You didn't make the choices....

 

[jaguarr]

I believe that God has your life planned out. It's pre-determined, and it's not necessarily free-will, or your choice.

Everything happens for a reason.

Then that is what is true for you. You certainly aren't the first nor will you be the last to externalize responsibility for what happens to you in your lifetime.

jag

 

[November Rain]

the freedom to choose withing a given set of options is not the same of true free will.

We don't have true free will over everything or really anything.

 

[Fran]

Then that is what is true for you. You certainly aren't the first nor will you be the last to externalize responsibility for what happens to you in your lifetime.

jag

Yes, thank you, jag. I agree with your reasoning, and I DO believe that is what is in-line for me, God and such.

 

[X-Chick]

What the hell do you think "free will" is?

 

[The Spawn]

...did you just give up?

 

[jaguarr]

Yes, thank you, jag. I agree with your reasoning, and I DO believe that is what is in-line for me, God and such.

Then you've found your path to walk in life and what works for you. Just know that the path changes a lot over the years and can wind up looking very different than you were sure it would over time, so don't be closed to that.

jag

 

[The Spawn]

Only one person has shown knowledge of determinism...:

Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. No wholly random, spontaneous, mysterious, or miraculous events occur, according to this philosophy.

 

[X-Chick]

No, you know me better than that. But apparently our ideas of "free will" are completely different. It seems you think free will only occurrs when you have complete control over everything, which is impossible unless you're a god.

 

[November Rain]

actually, can free will be experienced within a lucid dream?

 

[The Spawn]

No...it can't be Nov.