Free-Will or Determinism

Influx said:

James7679 said:

I'm going to have to go with free will. I know that I chose what I am going to do or not do.

As far as Physics go, well, speaking on an atomic level, you can't predict how everything will happen. So there are things that happen "randomly". A simple experiment; a tennis ball, a room with no ventilation and a release mechanism. Drop the ball 100 times, it will not go in the same direction, upon bouncing, every time. Things do just happen sometimes.

As far as humans and the way that we interact with one another, well, if we are going to say we don't have free will, how can there be any laws to punish those who do wrong? Is this going to be some kind of "scapegoat" eventually that everyone falls back on? This kind of thinking furthers my belief that mankind has become so weak, timid and frail, that they simply refuse to take responsibility for their actions.

1. Randomness does not suggest free-will. I never said it did. Randomness and free will are relative to the topic of conversation. For example, anything that can think, or make decisions for itself abide by the laws of free will. Every human or animal makes it's decision based on it's needs(first), abilities(second), and wants(third). A tree, however, grows towards light, because that's what it's programmed to do on a cellular level. A piece of lumber, falling off the back of a truck, while you are traveling down the highway, may or may not hit your vehicle based any number of variables. A bullet, fired from a sniper's rifle, may or may not hit exactly where it is intended, based, again, on any number of variables. "Thinking species" and Atomic Particles, do not adhere to the same set of rules. Period.
2. Laws punish humans so that they will avoid doing it [punishment] and to prevent them from doing it [prisonment]. Yes, and some people are stupid enough to continue to break the same laws over and over. Is that because they have no power in the matter? Or is it because their moral compass is defunct and therefor they continue to CHOSE to make the same decision based upon their "needs", "ability" and "wants".

We have actually no scientific proof that FreeWill does exist. Being aware of what your decisions does not suggest freewill. :/ I would agree with you, except that the basis of "Science" is THEORY. Science is an ever-changing world of guesses and hypothesis. Every decade brings new ideas and new beliefs. There are many beliefs in Science that are sound. But mostly, it's just a guessing game. Ask any real scientist, who doesn't have a bloated head, they will tell you the same.

In short, if you aren't going to accept responsibility for YOUR actions, who do you think should???

While I would never say that a person's physical condition doesn't have an influence on what a person thinks, feels and does, they are not a controlling factors. Many things have an influence on this, such as intelligence, moral foundation, environment, etc., but these are nothing more than components of the maze walls that I mentioned above. Sure, a person will tend to blame one or more of these "walls", instead of themselves, but a person that is well balanced takes these bounces in stride, and will not persist in bouncing off the same wall time after time. Some have defined insanity as the condition that exists when a person persist in making the same mistake repeatedly, without learning from their experience, and remains in the same dead end until they run out of strength and die.

marsmimar said:

I think I'm going to have to go with "can't come to any conclusions yet." Or was that response pre-ordained by some higher power?

lol

Did I quote the above and go lol because It's already been determined or did I randomly decide to since nothing is pre-ordained?

Personally I believe there is an answer, but humans will never know it. Just add it to the list

Influx said:

Determinism is the only rational conclusion on our current knowledge, and Free Will is usually supported by religious beliefs.

Wouldn't determinism reinforce religious dogma rather than free will since at it's core, Determinism suggests that every thing is already pre-ordained.

And since generally human knowledge and the ability to grasp concepts beyond conception is limited in it's scope of understanding, the only way such complex machinations could possibly be constructed and explained is by the existence of a God?

That's the spin I'd use at any rate. Then again, these concepts work at many levels and thus, can be manipulated to suit the situation.

This is just too heavy - whats wrong with just working out whether Schrodinger's cat is alive or dead?

There are many beliefs in Science that are sound.

And once more we confuse ourselves.....science is not based on belief. Belief requires faith, science requires theory tested by observation.

Golden said:

There are many beliefs in Science that are sound.

And once more we confuse ourselves.....science is not based on belief. Belief requires faith, science requires theory tested by observation.

lol, semantics. I used the wrong word there. So yeah, using that one portion of my quote, it is easy to take it out of context. Are you in the media?

This was the whole statement;

I would agree with you, except that the basis of "Science" is THEORY. Science is an ever-changing world of guesses and hypothesis. Every decade brings new ideas and new beliefs. There are many beliefs in Science that are sound. But mostly, it's just a guessing game. Ask any real scientist, who doesn't have a bloated head, they will tell you the same.

Maybe I should have said, There are many beliefs in science that are backed by the appropriate testing, and are therefor sound.

Perfect James And no I'm not in the media, but I am a scientist by profession. I just have a thing about using those two words together. For example, here in Australia, our PM deflects arguments about climate change with these words: "I believe in the science of climate change". The thing people don't get, is if you believe in climate change, you don't need the scientific facts to justify your belief.

I just found a useful illustration of Schrodinger's thought experiment :

I wanted to vote for free will. But I had to vote for determinism since my response was preordained. I must say it pisses me off. But there's nothing I can do about it!!