421–430 of 466 posts
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> you are the result of all the past sensory interactions that you experienced in your whole life That's only the mental aspect. Physically, you are also what you eat and how often you exercise.
Right, but (not) changing what you eat and how often you exercise is also heavily dependent on mental aspects.
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Hrm? When I think of things I tend to see multiple possibilities at once, and then decide which I think is the most reasonable, and go from there. Similar for emotions. I'm well aware of my emotions but can control them. And I think not doing so would be quite a poor way to behave. Perhaps it's that we all think in somewhat different ways, yet because our own mind is the only one that we will ever know - we simply po…
> Hrm? When I think of things I tend to see multiple possibilities at once, and then decide which I think is the most reasonable, and go from there. And based on what do you decide ? Probably your past experience, your knowledge, your education and your moral values. Which are all somehow environmental factors.
I'm largely swayed by the 'conscious experience.' Presumably neither of us believe that if you make a program to add 2+2, that some entity suddenly pops into existence and imagines itself to be adding 2+2 only to then zip out out of existence. Where we may differ is that I don't think that changes if we go from adding 2+2, to instead sequentially carrying out arbitrarily more simple instruction.
Yet here we are - 'passenger' or 'driver' in a body feeling as though we have complete control over our own actions. I tend to believe what lay before my eyes. And so in this case, I am obligated to reject this as being an emergent property of complexity, or as a facade. Which, in turn, obligates me to reject physicalism.
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> do you have free will in forming a list This seems like a separate question. Having the power to choose doesn't mean you have every conceivable option in mind, nor that you have the power to exercise every choice, nor even that you like any of the choices.
There's a few things you can choose to do at any time. You can almost always choose to for example close your eyes and keep them closed. Why don't you do it? You have the free will to stop blinking but your brain doesn't pose you this question so you don't even consider it. But now it's considering it. I'm just trying to reduce your argument to the absurd, and probably doing a bad job, but I don't think you can separ…
This sounds much too broad - I can't tell what it means. The things I listed are the normal constraints around how we define free will:
> > doesn't mean you have every conceivable option in mind
I think this is what you were exploring in your reply.
> > nor that you have the power to exercise every choice
I might choose to fly, but that doesn't mean that that is what will happen
> > nor even that you like any of the choices
I might be choosing between allowing myself to be robbed and risking being shot, but I am choosing within my horrible options.
> Did the first particles that ejected from the big bang have free will?
I don't think anyone's claiming they did, no.
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I use a blank paper sheet as bookmark and carry a pen, so that I write down important notes from the book content on the bookmark. Afterwards the book is - ideally and dependent on the content - condensed to one sheet, that I can refer to later. It also helps with retaining the content.
I’ve tried this with an index card once and quickly filled it up. As I ran out of space I found myself question if someone was card worthy, which was a distraction. I also tried writing in the margins on a book. I don’t like writing in the book due to it losing a lot of ability to shared after the fact, or if the book isn’t mine it’s a non-starter. That said, it was a very different experience, it was more like havin…
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I use a blank paper sheet as bookmark and carry a pen, so that I write down important notes from the book content on the bookmark. Afterwards the book is - ideally and dependent on the content - condensed to one sheet, that I can refer to later. It also helps with retaining the content.
I’ve tried this with an index card once and quickly filled it up. As I ran out of space I found myself question if someone was card worthy, which was a distraction. I also tried writing in the margins on a book. I don’t like writing in the book due to it losing a lot of ability to shared after the fact, or if the book isn’t mine it’s a non-starter. That said, it was a very different experience, it was more like havin…
* They remove cleanly, if you're worried about permanently marking up or defacing a book.
* They are easy to write on (I've mostly used EF nib fountain pens).
* Best of all, since they are color-coded, you can invent your own scheme (e.g. blue == "I should revisit this", yellow == "my top N favorite quotes from this book", etc.)
Edit: to add another point
* They are large enough that you can write a decent sentence in there -- the "page flag" size might be a tad too small for that (but thanks to the EF nib, I often find myself using different-colored flags).
"We become what we behold"
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This is a lot of text to mean, “I’ve already made up my mind I can’t make any choices.” Typing out such a long rambling reply was itself a choice.
> Typing out such a long rambling reply was itself a choice. First sentence GP wrote is: "Choosing is not free will.". Did you choose to ignore what GP wrote when writing your reply? Free will isn't about making choices, at least not according to any definition I've heard. After all, it is obvious that in some way we do make choices. As far as my understanding goes free will is, depending on the definition, either ab…
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> Typing out such a long rambling reply was itself a choice. First sentence GP wrote is: "Choosing is not free will.". Did you choose to ignore what GP wrote when writing your reply? Free will isn't about making choices, at least not according to any definition I've heard. After all, it is obvious that in some way we do make choices. As far as my understanding goes free will is, depending on the definition, either ab…
Free will is absolutely largely about making choices. That’s not all of it, but denying that is silly, it’s goal post shifting from the ones who don’t believe in it.
Free will largely isn't about making choices or having choices. It is largely about how/why we make choices.
Bacteria can move, thus bacteria have a choice of direction in which to move. Bacteria move, so it is making a choice.
If GP has free will just because they made a choice to write a reply to you, as you claim, then it must follow that bacteria also have free will. Am I wrong or do you think that bacteria have free will?
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Expressions like "eat your vegetables" and "life is short" are also trite. But the purpose of folk wisdom isn't to shock and awe with fresh insights. The purpose is to remind people of what they already know to be true. That way we steer our behavior more towards the kind of life we want to live.
Your reply is simple, yet profound. Answers to the question of "why" must be understood. Before retiring, I trained new hires, the age gaps were sometimes very interesting. The younger they were, the more they wanted to know. (obviously their experience level was pretty low.) I used adages to bring a point home when explaining a difficult concept. It worked every time.
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> “if I didn’t chose to do it you cannot be angry at me." Yes I can, because I didn't choose to be angry either.
But would anger be reasonable? Of course not.