Posted by Joseph McTamany on December 05, 19100 at 03:24:41:

In Reply to: free will and determinism posted by Peter Mann on June 30, 19100 at 00:26:51:

Whether you believe that the universe is part of a grand design by God or some Deity, or if you are an atheist, or if you believe in a God, but suspect that it leaves us alone, and doesn’t interfere, it doesn’t matter. There still can not be such a thing as “Free Will”. All our decisions are made because of, or against an outside influence that we have no control over.

First we have no say if we are born or not. Then we have no say who our parents are. We have no say whether we’re male or female, we have no say what race or nationality we are. We have no say where we were born, where we were raised, what kind of family (if any) we are raised in, our religious or non-religious upbringing. We have no say how tall, or short we are, how smart or dumb we are, if we're pretty or not, how talented or not talented we are (in any field, sports, music, math art, etc.) We have no say if we are born with genetic defects that affects us at birth or later in life. We have no say if we get sick or not. We have no say what color hair or eyes we have. We have no say what period in history we are born into. We have no control over our bodily functions. We have no control over our mental health. We have no say if any of our senses are faulty, such as needing gles or a hearing aid. We have no say when we die, or that we have to die. We have no say on just about anything.

Now you might say. “but we can make decisions and be responsible for their consequences”. But that is just an illusion. We can decide to drive the speed limit, for example, but that decision is formed by traffic laws, our upbringing, driver training, the cost of car insurance if we get a speeding ticket, whether or not someone is tailgating you and ing the horn to go faster or not, if you’re not in a hurry to go somewhere, if your car won’t go any faster and the list is endless. When you decide to drive the speed limit, it is not because you have free will and decide to do it, but the influences that are and have been surrounding you that forces you to make that decision.

Our environment and biology controls all of our decisions. Why does one prefer a certain color, or music, or TV show, or movie, or sport, or car, etc.? We don’t know, we just prefer them. We’ve built up preferences for things through our lifetime, because of our environment or biological needs, or maybe because of inbred desires through genetics. Every mico-second there are uncountable events happening that control our actions, decisions and future. Not to mention the long list of uncontrollable events that I mentioned in the beginning.

It may be that the future has already happened from some relativistic point of view, which would then surely make our actions and decisions predetermined. But even if the future hasn’t occurred yet, our will is governed by our surroundings and needs, that we have no control over. A man may seduce a married woman. She would have two choices, to allow herself to be seduced, or say no and walk away. But the fact that she had to make a choice at all, destroys the concept of “free will”

There’s a typical scenario that involves an argument between a free will believer and a deterministic believer. The free will believer pulls out a gun points it to his head and before he pulls the trigger, tells the deterministic believer that he is exercising his free will by killing himself. But the truth is, he was coerced into it by his argument with the deterministic believer. If not for the argumentive conversation, the free will believer would not have had to commit suicide. He killed himself, not because he wanted to, but to prove a point.

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