Is free will real?

[nixdeath]

Do you believe in free will? Personally I think free will illogical, I can't understand any reason for it to be true. It seems like everyone who argues for it says that "i feel free will" or "God gave me free will." What do you all think?

 

[Euthanza]

People think they have freewill but actually they don't, we only have options and that sometimes we can't choose, and some people may have more options than others, but still they are very limited because of circumstances and conditions.
So, the freewill isn't really free. I think the birds have more freedom than human, this intellectual bullshit we made up because we have bigger brain which make us able to learn to spell, write, read and make videos, can't compare a pair of perfect wings to fly free.

 

[Princess777]

Depends on the definition, in the Sense as a soul that can Devise as a magical Entity above the body, no i dont think so..
I believe we are biological and chemical prpcesses

 

[ThomasJ]

To me this was always one of these questions that don't have a meaningful answer. Not just because it's something that we can't really prove either way at our current level of technology, but because it simply doesn't make a difference to us. Whether we do or do not have free will is irrelevant, because in our lived experience, it feels like we do.
What changes if we don't have free will? Nothing, really. So it's best to just let that question go and live your life as someone with free will - whether that free will only exists as a figment of our imagination or not.

 

[Anonymus]

No, it's not. Everything is pre-defined,... but I like to think that my thoughts are free (even this thought is not mine...)
//
No, no ho és pas. Tot està predefinit,... però m'agrada pensar que els meus pensaments són lliures (fins i tot aquest pensament no es meu...)

 

[TooConscious]

Free will, like anything, is a choice.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I suppose- yes and no. You CAN in theory TRY to do whatever you want. It's just that the consequences won't always work out that well.

You can TRY to succeed in a certain subject but you likely either need oodles of talent or money- preferably both. You CAN decide to declare yourself an alien or a God and try setting up a new religion/way of life. It might work- it might not.

We can be VERY limited by our genes, our background, our financial situation. Still- you do still get people who succeed in life against all the odds.

It likely depends on a variety of factors as to whether you will choose to USE your free will: How willing are you to fail? Can you support yourself financially? Do you care about not necessarily conforming to social norms and the expectations the people around you place on you? How much do you want it? I imagine you will need to WANT that goal more than anything. You may need to compromise in other areas in your life in order to pursue that thing. How confident are you?

I think there obviously are limiting factors on people but I wonder how many of those we impose on ourselves. I've known creative people knuckle down to more stable 9-5 jobs because they ALSO wanted a family. They COULD have likely succeeded in their chosen profession but the uncertainty of it didn't suite them- given the fact that they wanted to support their families. They COULD still have gone with their chosen career and let their family suffer (possibly.) I think there is choice- it's just that the likelihood is that most of us have been raised to choose the most 'sensible' path.

The fact that people commit crimes surely proves that there IS free will though. Perhaps you could argue that some were forced into it. Some aren't though. They know it's wrong. They know what the consequences will be- yet they choose to do it anyway.

 

[Zelonis]

The concept of free will is most likely false. Although, it seems to serve me best to follow the advice of what philosopher William James had to say about the topic of free will:

"At any rate, I will assume for the present—until next year—that it is no illusion. My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will.".

 

[Gustav Hartmann]

I am an engineer, and if I were ask to built a robot with a free will I would not know how to meet this requirement. I would ask the customer whether he is serious, who the hell wants a machine with a free will.

In my opinion we are nothing but bio-robots. Fundamental laws of nature are the origin of our acting. It´s an interaction of determinism and coincidence, I can see no chance for a free will, not even by emergence.

 

[Georg]

Nah, it's just a movie

 

[OceanBlue]

No and it makes our lives even more absurd.

 

[rue]

Maybe for other people.. I seem to always be led by something bigger than myself. Like a puppet on a string. It's tiring

 

[Auxx]

I'm going to have to say yes and no. Yes, on account of the fact that you, technically, can do anything you want. No, on account of the fact that you, literally, cannot do anything you want.

Example:

"You can say whatever you want, unless it offends me."

 

[81-Z@P@D]

I don't think it would change much, free will might imply mankind is irredeemable, a lack of it would mean our fate is sealed, either conclusion is still tragic.

 

[CyberYogi]

Free-will is an illusion in this world.

 

[Tyrone Slothrop]

In the grand scheme, yes, for the most part. Though it is somewhat limited by biology and so on. However, in society our free-will is restricted by institutions.

 

[Methuselah Fallen]

Only to a certain degree, insofar as every decision we make is influenced in some way - conscious, subconscious - by our experiences, trauma, biases, everything. We may very well will to do something that is antagonistic to our nature - that is, free from the self - but never something entirely removed from our humanity, the shackles of our mind and soul. Even death - as we have come here to seek it - is not a completely free will, but rather that, while it is contrary to our innate survival instinct (and, thus, free from our humanity), the decision to desire it is one that has been arrived at by a complex route in which each of our mind's vices are a station.

 

[FrostedHoax]

I think our decisions and thought processes are influenced to a degree by our biology and environment. But I do believe that these aren't the end be all in deciding our thoughts and actions and that in the end, we some control over our own choices and that most of history was shaped by the compounding of personal decisions made by individuals that culminated to form our world as we know it today. After all, if biology had complete control over us, then this forum wouldn't exist. It doesn't make evolutionary sense to allow us to kill ourselves, even if there is that pesky SI to overcome, and yet we can ultimately make the choice to do so, albeit with great difficulty.

 

[Atwr]

I do believe negative free will (freedom from anything) can exist, but I don't think negative free will (freedom to do anything) can exist

 

[Stylite]

Kind of. You're the product of nature and nurture, but you still make choices in the present.

 

[Doombox]

I think what we call "free will" could better be described as free choice. I can go in an ice cream store and freely choose from a bunch of flavors. Feels like I'm totally in control. But the variables that result in me choosing a particular flavor are not under my control. The only way you could "rewind the tape" and have me choose a different flavor would be to introduce randomness into the system in some way, perhaps on some quantum level. But I would still have no control over that.

 

[liheartsu]

no lol

 

[MeSauce]

Free will is real because I can always choose between doing right and doing wrong. Even if I am chained by the hands, feet and neck in a torture chamber, I still have to choice to either hold my will intact or break to the torturer's wishes.

 

[surewhynot]

I'm on the fence! It seems a large number of academic philosophers think we don't, though.

 

[nixdeath]

I'm on the fence! It seems a large number of academic philosophers think we don't, though.

Yeah I have since changed my mind on this to be honest. I do think both positions are logical, but I no longer really care that much.

 

[Homo erectus]

Can the material-only world say anything about freewill? For example, can one say "this ball's movement is affected by freewill" from observation alone? There must be some factors that decides the outcome of randomness. Let's say "hidden variables". Are some hidden variables freewill? Then whose freewill? If some "hidden variables" are not freewill, what are they? I guess freewill belongs to the spiritual realm. Yes, there is probably a spiritual (non-material) realm that affects the material world.