Is Free Will an illusion?

TheQu said:
That this world is governed by basic physical laws and that we are just a collection of atoms that follow these laws.
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But atoms are comprised of things which do NOT follow our basic physical laws.
 
MortalWombat said:
Forgive my ignorance, but you jest, yes?
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No.

The idea that we have "Free will" when our actions are known beforehand is silly.

Can I claim I have free will to say, go eat a taco right now? Sure.

But it was always destined that I would eat that taco, since God knew of it beforehand.

Same for every other aspect of my life.
 
AgentOrange24 said:
No.

The idea that we have "Free will" when our actions are known beforehand is silly.

Can I claim I have free will to say, go eat a taco right now? Sure.

But it was always destined that I would eat that taco, since God knew of it beforehand.

Same for every other aspect of my life.
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It's just that there was that whole apple misunderstanding with Eve...
 
AgentOrange24 said:
No.

The idea that we have "Free will" when our actions are known beforehand is silly.

Can I claim I have free will to say, go eat a taco right now? Sure.

But it was always destined that I would eat that taco, since God knew of it beforehand.

Same for every other aspect of my life.
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You don't understand Christianity at all.
 
Prokofievian said:
I thought so. I don't believe that's entirely consistent with what we've learned from the way atoms actually behave. I don't think that for every thing that happens, that there are a certain set of conditions such that only that thing could happen.
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Doesn't mean humans have any agency over what does happen.
 
AgentOrange24 said:
Brb, Taco Bell.
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So he just knew about it, could've stopped it with a snap of his fingers, but didn't, and arguably set the entire thing in motion since the beginning of anything and everything.

Just like your taco.

The good lord giveth, and the good lord taketh away...
 
We have free will to the extent that our personality traits dictate. If I am passive by nature my decisions will follow a more avoidance, non confrontational path. Conversely if I am more aggressive (alpha) I will make choices that satisfy that profile. So the question has an answer.......YES AND NO.
 
TheQu said:
Doesn't mean humans have any agency over what does happen.
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I don't want to be that guy, but when you're talking about free will, it's useful to define whose free will we're talking about.

On a different note, this seems interesting (don't know if it's utter crap though): http://www.quantummechanicsandreality.com/Primer/iia8_brain.htm

For what it's worth, a catherine's wheel firework's trajectory and behaviour are pretty straightforwardly deterministic. I don't hear many people arguing that it's not worth watching though.

What's wrong with watching even if you happen to be the firework itself?
 
HillRaiser said:
Pretty much. Indeterminacy doesn't solve much of the problem.
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Then you will probably have to outline the rest of the problem. It doesn't definitively answer the problem, but it does allow the possibility.
 
TheQu said:
That this world is governed by basic physical laws and that we are just a collection of atoms that follow these laws.
Click to expand...

How does dark matter and dark energy affect the "basic physical laws," humans and atoms?
 
MortalWombat said:
I don't want to be that guy, but when you're talking about free will, it's useful to define whose free will we're talking about.

On a different note, this seems interesting (don't know if it's utter crap though): http://www.quantummechanicsandreality.com/Primer/iia8_brain.htm

For what it's worth, a catherine's wheel firework's trajectory and behaviour are pretty straightforwardly deterministic. I don't hear many people arguing that it's not worth watching though.

What's wrong with watching even if you happen to be the firework itself?
Click to expand...

The question now becomes, which of us is morally responsible for burning the tent down?
 
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