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> We have to give up this silly notion of free will. The more we learn about the brain the more it turns out to be a fantasy. If you're right, there's no possi

• lukifer 14y ago
  It's not that free will does not exist; rather, it is a faulty model. It is causality without a cause. Saying "I decided to take action X due to biological force Y and social pressure Z" does not mean a decision did not take place. We must believe in our own agency in order to function, but understanding its mechanisms and limits increases that agency, rather than removing it.
• Aqueous 14y ago
  Free will and self-awareness are different, but we seem to confuse them a lot. We are a cognitive agent and can know many different kinds of facts. Our lack of free will is just another fact that we might become aware of.
  • mpyne 14y ago
    > Our lack of free will is just another fact that we might become aware of. Sure, but even if it's a fact there's no use arguing about giving up the notion of free will because it's not under "our" control whether we will or won't, no matter how self-aware we might be. Self awareness is the easy part. I can run lm_sensors on my box at home to let the computer know about its own motherboard temperature and many other things, but it's still not a cognitive machine.
    • Aqueous 14y ago
      Right, I agree. It is not our decision when we collectively stop thinking we have free will. It might not happen at all. When I say "We ought to" I really only mean that facts point in one direction, and our beliefs point in another, and whenever they become aligned we'll be better off.