Serg897
Master Don Juan
I’ve been reading with interest some debates on the internet about this involving many competent scientists and philosophers. Here is an op-ed written by Jerry Coyne, a biologist at the university of Chicago who argues that there is no such thing:
http://chronicle.com/article/Jerry-A-Coyne/131165/
A response can be found here:
http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=4445
Many others have also weighed in – Sam Harris just recently gave a lecture at Caltech also arguing that its an illusion.
www.samharris.org/media/the-illusion-of-free-will-lecture-at-caltech
I think its interesting to examine this question in the context of women, relationships, and dating. How many veterans on this forum have had AFC reversions when a certain woman came along? How many times have you lost yourself in oneitis even though you had been on this forum and absorbed the information and knowledge for years? How many times have you done things against your better judgement, i.e. broken NC, called too often, or otherwise made idiotic mistakes with women who didn’t deserve it? I have done this many many times.
I am not trying to negate the concept of responsibility. Our past experiences determine the choices that we make in the here and now. All Im saying is that if you define free will as “I could have done differently” its essentially meaningless – since if you were to rewind everything back to the moment you made the choice, placing every variable where it was at the time there is no reason to believe you will do otherwise without changing the laws of physics, cause and effect. You are always stuck with the choice you made.
Anyway, Im curious to see if people on this board are interested in having this debate or not. Discuss.
http://chronicle.com/article/Jerry-A-Coyne/131165/
A response can be found here:
http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=4445
Many others have also weighed in – Sam Harris just recently gave a lecture at Caltech also arguing that its an illusion.
www.samharris.org/media/the-illusion-of-free-will-lecture-at-caltech
I think its interesting to examine this question in the context of women, relationships, and dating. How many veterans on this forum have had AFC reversions when a certain woman came along? How many times have you lost yourself in oneitis even though you had been on this forum and absorbed the information and knowledge for years? How many times have you done things against your better judgement, i.e. broken NC, called too often, or otherwise made idiotic mistakes with women who didn’t deserve it? I have done this many many times.
I am not trying to negate the concept of responsibility. Our past experiences determine the choices that we make in the here and now. All Im saying is that if you define free will as “I could have done differently” its essentially meaningless – since if you were to rewind everything back to the moment you made the choice, placing every variable where it was at the time there is no reason to believe you will do otherwise without changing the laws of physics, cause and effect. You are always stuck with the choice you made.
Anyway, Im curious to see if people on this board are interested in having this debate or not. Discuss.