Free Will?

[Marlin]

Do we really have free will, or do we just go throughout our lives the way that a "greater power" has planned them. Is there really destiny or are we masters of our future.

[jdbelec]

We got free will just theres alot of rules

[crooked]

i thought this said "free wii".

i was thinking sweet! i'll have one pls.

[Marlin]

Nice try. I need a wii bad.

[Zandrel]

i thought this said "free wii".

i was thinking sweet! i'll have one pls.

Me too this thread is a trap. :P

[jdbelec]

He's trying to trick you :s

[Phlintlock]

I have free will, you don't.

[The muffin man]

A deeper argument on this subject is that at the molecular level, we have no free will; a cause illicits a response, but at a quantum level, identities affect reactions of particles, supporting the idea of free will through simple randomization -or so the theory goes.

[Mooters]

Loo, I thought this thread also said "free wii."
Yes, like jdbelec said, we have free will, but just alot of rules.
But no one ever said you HAVE to like the rules. :<

[Marlin]

So in english, we have free will only because the reactions of these particles are based on random events?

[Slevin57]

Well obviously since your asking me to choose between having free will or not, I choose that I do!

Perhaps you should go a little more in depth :P. I think most of us will agree we have free will.

However, I think instead of having absolute free will, our mind will present us with choices, though they are not infinite. My reasoning for this is that if in every situation we had an infinite amount of choices, we would never be able to find the one best suited to us.

[Marlin]

Did you make that choice because you chose to, or did you make that choice because you were supposed to and it was predetermined that you would choose that we have free will?

[System_Zero]

i thought this said "free wii".

i was thinking sweet! i'll have one pls.

Thought the same thing. But I just remembered, I already have a Wii, do I really want another one? Yes. Yes I do.

Free Wii (will :P) is more or less a Domino Effect on a much larger scale.

[Spanky Ham]

We have a free will but most of the time we obey rules and choose not to do what we acually want to do, inorder to get what we want later on in life. So in a sence we don't because we don't really have much of a choice(if anyone can guess im talking about school, chores etc)

too bad we can just say stuff it and steal a car and drive to mexico(well we can..but chances are we won't) dang this gets confusing eh

[Evonus]

I think people's choices aren't their own, but are based on cause and effect most of the time. We react a certain way because some pressure or feeling is upon us, we don't make every choice from an unbiased perspective.

[Shins]

We are predisposed to certain choices. We still make them. If we don't, we don't know we don't, so it doesn't matter. Everyone's still accountable.

[Slevin57]

Did you make that choice because you chose to, or did you make that choice because you were supposed to and it was predetermined that you would choose that we have free will?

We can never really know.

Did Judas betray Jesus because he chose to, or God made him choose to do that, so that Jesus would be able to be crucified and all that stuff . (Argument for Atheism).

[The muffin man]

We have a free will but most of the time we obey rules and choose not to do what we acually want to do, inorder to get what we want later on in life. So in a sence we don't because we don't really have much of a choice(if anyone can guess im talking about school, chores etc)

too bad we can just say stuff it and steal a car and drive to mexico(well we can..but chances are we won't) dang this gets confusing eh


Why don't you? If your free will says it, why wouldn't you? Or is your adherence to the rules evidence against free will?

[Spanky Ham]

possibly but i just don't want to screw up my life :)

[Hacky]

We have a free will but most of the time we obey rules and choose not to do what we acually want to do, inorder to get what we want later on in life. So in a sence we don't because we don't really have much of a choice(if anyone can guess im talking about school, chores etc)

too bad we can just say stuff it and steal a car and drive to mexico(well we can..but chances are we won't) dang this gets confusing eh

You're looking at free will in a legal manner, he's asking about free will in a Godly manner.

There is nothing stopping you from going and killing person. Nothing. You choose not to. You have the free will to, but you also have the free will not to. And you choose not to, because of the consequences that will come from it. It's like drinking too much alcohol. It is legal, but you could die from it. So you choose not to, because of the consequences.

He's talking about whether or not God gave us the power of choice. The way I see it, there is either fate, or free will. You can't have both. I believe in Free Will, nothing is meant to happen, nothing is defined in the future, anybody can change what will or won't happen. THe Butterfly effect basically (Not the movie, the theory).

[MasterGlitch]

Well, think about this.

Nothing, not even "randomness," is random. When you throw a die, there are millions of calculations that take immediate effect, and if we were able to make all those calculations(direction and strength of the throw, number of times it spins in the air, the force with which it hits the table, wind conditions, and even down to barometric pressure and many other things) then we could perfectly be able to predict, every single time, how the die will land.
Now, apply that to humans and human thought. When you make a choice, you will make it based on what seems the most logical to you, taking into account tons of data from past experiences and the current situation. Every single time, if given the same choice multiple times, assuming each time is forgotten by you and such, you will make the exact same decision because it is the only logical decision to you. So, if cause and effect completely shapes us like this and all our decisions are made based on defined factors, then how can those choices truly have been choices? As said before, you will make the same decision every time given the exact same scenario. So it's almost like the roll of a die. All the conditions exist, and if they are all calculated correctly then you will be able to predict the outcome every single time.

How, then, do we truly have free will? Our decisions are based upon logical conclusions made from pre-existing conditions. Is that truly a choice that you made?
Now, some people try to bring up the idea of hindsight to prove this wrong, but it only further proves it. After you make a decision and see the immediate outcome you have enough information to determine whether you should have made that choice, but if the scenario was run again without the information of the consequences, you will invariably make the same decision.

Just something interesting to think about.