There is likely no Free Will. When a male dog gets a whiff of a female dog in heat, it has certain extremely intense desires, which it will try to extremely hard to satisfy. We see the intensity only too clearly, and when the desire is thwarted (for instance, by fence or a leash), it pains us to to identify with that poor animal, trapped by its innate drivers, pushed by an abstract force that it doesnt int the least understand. This poignant sight clearly exemplifies will, but is it free will? - Douglas Hofstadter(I Am A Strange Loop) “Take a moment to think about the context in which your next decision will occur: You did not pick your parents or the time and place of your birth. You didnt choose your gender or most of your life experiences. You had no control whatsoever over your genome or the development of your brain. And now your brain is making choices on the basis of preferences and beliefs that have been hammered into it over a lifetime - by your genes, your physical development since the moment you were conceived, and the interactions you have had with other people, events, and ideas. Where is the freedom in this? Yes, you are free to do what you want even now. But where did your desires come from?” Sam Harris “You are not controlling the storm, and you are not lost in it. You are the storm.” ― Sam Harris
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 00:06:21 +0000