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Do I have free will?

Can I choose what to do or what not to do? Or is it in nature that I have to do what I do? Or does a god control what I do? What are some thoughts on this?

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Christologist 4 Sep 26
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30 comments (26 - 30)

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You can do or not do. Sometimes you decide to do, then do something else. You can either rob that bank or not rob that bank. Gods have nothing to do with this.

0

Yes, we have free will in what we understand.
If we've grown up in a certain mindset, we wouldn't even realize that's what we've been trained to believe a certain way, or that things could be different.

For example, studies show that people's financial status mindsets are set in early childhood and are highly resistant to change. That's why the rich almost always grow richer, while the poor usually stay poor, even if they win the lottery.

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  1. No.

  2. Yes

  3. Define 'god'

  4. We like to think that we have because we are unable to predict why individuals appear to respond differently to the same stimuli.

@Christologist Nope.

As I said, we like to think we have and thus we have. It's a huge philosophical argument that will be argued about for millennia and will probably never be answered.

And in the grand scheme of things it really is irrelevant and is of no importance to me.

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  1. depends on how you define it, but I would say that the concept of free will, as it is usually understood, is false. all thoughts are chemistry, all chemistry follows rules, and is dependent on previous states. given the exact same chemical state, and the exact same conditions, you would make the exact same "choice" every time. the feeling of making different choices are lost in the variables of every situation.
  2. there are no gods controlling your actions.

@Christologist my will, except when I'm having episodes. I look at everything I experience through a rational lens, I try as often as possible to step away from emotional situations before making decisions about how to react.

but in general, we decide what we decide because of brain chemistry, so it depends on the person. some people are wired to "give in to emotion" more than others. and this is all training, it's all experienctial, the way a person thinks, the way their wiring comes to decisions or conclusions, can be modified by new experience, new information, and new relationships.

our actions are programmed, but the program is constantly evolving, constantly using new data, and revising the value of old experience based on new experience.

if you haven't yet, I'd definitely suggest you do some research into cognitive heuristics, they are very much a big part of how we make decisions, just little shortcuts our minds use to cut through the constant flow of information.

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I think this is a topic with lots of grey zone. Sure I have free will to reply to you message or not. I don't have free will to determine what I like and what I don't - that has somehow been put into me. For instance I really like pistacio ice cream - but I did not make a free will choice to like it. Eating it or not surely is my free choice.

Stig Level 5 Sep 26, 2018
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