6 ms·

You probably don't have free will, you have no more control of the thoughts that motivate you to take action as you do the thoughts that do not.

catsarebetter 4y ago
Thank you everyone for commenting, you did so because you were compelled by forces that you don't control and thus, did not do so of your own free will. On a serious note, Sam Harriss essay on free will is a good read, nihilism and existentialism too. A point I'd like to make is that surrendering and accepting to things you don't control can bring you short term peace but will crush your long term peace. I personally don't care if I have or don't have free will, there are things about myself and the world around me that I cannot control but will never stop trying to fight against it. Hurting people, for one. I think that's my definition of free will. Someone else made a point that free will could be similar to the god of the gaps theory, where free will is in the gaps.
iKevinShah 4y ago
There have been some studies to prove it too right? I dont remember exactly.
- goodpoint 4y ago
  Yes, indicating that our consciousness is simply reacting to our choices and rationalizing them rather than making them in the first place.
tailung 4y ago
well, I think that if you are aware (mindfulness) about your thought patterns you can steer them, and usually what you think you become, because your thoughts drive actions. In my personal experience practicing self awareness has helped with this. I understand that there are factors outside of our control, but what goes on within us can be controlled to some extent with effort and time.
- Timwi 4y ago
  You cannot control physics though. What goes on in your brain is entirely just physics. We have a subjective impression of control, but that too is only the result of physics.
  - adamdusty 4y ago
    I dont think you can just blanket it under physics. Plenty of controllable systems exist specifically due to physics.
  - mongol 4y ago
    There is more to it than just "physics". I find the "Orchestrated objective reduction" hypothesis by Penrose and Hameroff interesting in this regard
occamschainsaw 4y ago
I agree that we have little control over our thoughts. But we are the "haver" of these thoughts. There is some system that the thoughts are originating from. I like to think (hehe) of it as the (real-time) operating system, with thoughts originating from different subprocesses and actions being in the user land. The primary function of this OS (not the thinking part "me") is to survive. We can't control the OS directly, but we can facilitate our actions and environment in accordance with our OS.
mikelevins 4y ago
There's a specific figure of speech related to this claim that kind of irks me: when someone says that they "choose to believe" something. Really? You can choose to believe something? I'm really not sure I can. If you really think that you can, try an experiment like this: 1. Look closely at something familiar--maybe your car or your house, for example. Identify what color it is, or what colors predominate. 2. Now turn the other way so that you can't see it. Choose to believe that it's a different color. 3. Turn at look at it again. Are you surprised by what you see?

catsarebetter 4y ago

Thank you everyone for commenting, you did so because you were compelled by forces that you don't control and thus, did not do so of your own free will. On a serious note, Sam Harriss essay on free will is a good read, nihilism and existentialism too. A point I'd like to make is that surrendering and accepting to things you don't control can bring you short term peace but will crush your long term peace. I personally don't care if I have or don't have free will, there are things about myself and the world around me that I cannot control but will never stop trying to fight against it. Hurting people, for one. I think that's my definition of free will. Someone else made a point that free will could be similar to the god of the gaps theory, where free will is in the gaps.

iKevinShah 4y ago

There have been some studies to prove it too right? I dont remember exactly.

goodpoint 4y ago
Yes, indicating that our consciousness is simply reacting to our choices and rationalizing them rather than making them in the first place.

tailung 4y ago

well, I think that if you are aware (mindfulness) about your thought patterns you can steer them, and usually what you think you become, because your thoughts drive actions. In my personal experience practicing self awareness has helped with this. I understand that there are factors outside of our control, but what goes on within us can be controlled to some extent with effort and time.

Timwi 4y ago
You cannot control physics though. What goes on in your brain is entirely just physics. We have a subjective impression of control, but that too is only the result of physics.
- adamdusty 4y ago
  I dont think you can just blanket it under physics. Plenty of controllable systems exist specifically due to physics.
- mongol 4y ago
  There is more to it than just "physics". I find the "Orchestrated objective reduction" hypothesis by Penrose and Hameroff interesting in this regard

occamschainsaw 4y ago

I agree that we have little control over our thoughts. But we are the "haver" of these thoughts. There is some system that the thoughts are originating from. I like to think (hehe) of it as the (real-time) operating system, with thoughts originating from different subprocesses and actions being in the user land. The primary function of this OS (not the thinking part "me") is to survive. We can't control the OS directly, but we can facilitate our actions and environment in accordance with our OS.

mikelevins 4y ago

There's a specific figure of speech related to this claim that kind of irks me: when someone says that they "choose to believe" something. Really? You can choose to believe something? I'm really not sure I can. If you really think that you can, try an experiment like this: 1. Look closely at something familiar--maybe your car or your house, for example. Identify what color it is, or what colors predominate. 2. Now turn the other way so that you can't see it. Choose to believe that it's a different color. 3. Turn at look at it again. Are you surprised by what you see?