(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); One of the reasons, I believe, why people disagree about wither there is free will or not, is because they have different ideas of what “free will” really is.

The people who say that free will does exist, might only go so far as to think “I can choose whether to drink coffee or tea, I could have either one but I’ll choose one of them because of free will. No one has forced me to choose one before the other and so this is MY free will”

Some people go a step further and think, what is the reason for choosing one before the other? Where do those preferences come from? I sum it up with two general categories: Genetic heritage and Experiences.

Both of these categories stem from the environment, and I believe that everything that a person is, their bodies and their minds, comes from the environment. Every atom of your body and mind has originally been part of something else. This is because you haven’t existed since the beginning of time and atoms doesn’t just appear out of nothing and nor do they disappear into nothing. So every part of you that is something must be somewhere and since something doesn’t just pop into existence, it must originally have come from somewhere else.

So I don’t believe in free will because I think that because for free will to exist, that will must originally have come from you. And since everything that you consist of originally comes from somewhere else, other than you, that will is not yours. Simplified: If you cannot control the past which created you, you have no free will.

So what’s your will? I guess it is what determines what you do. Thinking, walking and making decisions is doing something. So what I don’t believe is that when you are for example, thinking, walking and making decisions, it isn’t originally you doing the thinking, the walking and making the decisions. Because what I believe is that there are reasons for everything that you do, reasons which comes from somewhere else than you and reasons which you did not ultimately choose yourself.

The categories Genetic heritage and Experiences, is in my opinion, everything that has made you the way you are, and make you subconsciously act in a certain way. And they both come from somewhere else than you. I will now explain what I mean by these categories.

Genetic heritage: It’s the genome you were born with. The 42 chromosomes (if you don’t, for example, have Downs syndrome), which contains all the genes responsible for making the proteins which reacts with other substances in different ways and creates you. Differences in the genetic code can create individuals of different height, intelligence, hair color, eye color, musical talent, literary talent, disposition towards violence, and you can even be born with a disposition toward republicans instead of democrats.

Experiences: Is everything that affects you, every slight thing. A mosquito sits down on your arm and you slap it, or don’t slap it, it affects you either way. A small wind which you barely even notice affects you. Someone telling you that they saw a movie last night; even though you don’t remember the movie, still affects you. Someone walking past you wearing a red scarf affects you. The light from a star light-years away reaches you as you look up at the night sky, it makes the sky look slightly more full of stars than it would have without the light from that particular star. Maybe it makes you think “Wow, clear sky tonight, this is awesome…the Universe is so cool” and then you are pushed slightly towards a career as an astrophysicist, or just become an amatuer astronomer.

You did not choose your genetic heritage so right there you would lose some free will. You didn’t sit before you existed thinking “Hmm…yeah, I think I’m going to go for blond hair, brown eyes…No, blue! Blue eyes…and yeah let’s see…downs, yeah, I’m definitely going to have Downs syndrome. Maybe I should be born with a loss of function mutation in one of my copies of the retinoblastoma gene which will increase my chances of getting eye-cancer later on”

What other factors, other than genetic heritage and experiences, can have played a part in determining your thoughts and actions throughout your life? Try to imagine what that could be.

I guess what jumps into mind is something like a “soul”. The concept of a soul would be another factor which could play a part in determining your thoughts and actions. And it would be completely yours right? Not something that came from the surrounding universe. So, would a soul at least grant us some free will?

I don’t believe in a soul, I believe that whatever people refer to as a soul, is just their minds which like everything else, consists of matter. But let’s say that there was a soul which influenced people’s thoughts and actions. Even though there was a soul, you still wouldn’t have chosen your soul. Therefore the same logic applies. If you haven’t chosen that which gives you your will, it isn’t your free will.

I’ll end with this:
If the universe were to rewind itself to the moment when you woke up today, everything in the whole universe went back the way it was then, every atom was in the same spot with the same energy as it had the first time. If the universe “pressed the play-button”, wouldn’t your new day, play out exactly as it had before? Wouldn’t you sit there at exactly the same moment and read this? What could have been different?


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But does any of this matter? If free will exsists or doesn't, it isn't going to change who I am or what I think.

I don't think this is a solid argument. What im getting out of this is that we have no free will because we originated from old atoms that aren't technically ours. My chemical composition has nothing to do with what coffee im buying tomorrow, to be honest this is actually kind of dumb to me

True dat.

I read it all , Only to be dissapointed that it was a copy and paste

That's not the point that was being made at all. That was a point that disproves free will.

I always thought free will was a figure of speech to describe you have the power to make your own decision without the influence of anybody else.

Of course it doesn't matter. Does anything matter? Just because something doesn't matter, doesn't mean it's uninteresting.



And the point of this thread is to show that you don't have the power to make your own decisions, even without the influence of anyone else.

Of course not, we're in a game called Sims.