Topic: Do Humans Have Free Will? (Read 639 times)

Well, i think we're free to make decisions about or actions, there's that. It's just that every action we make of course corresponds to a certain consequence, whether it's good or bad for us. So free will is real. We're responsible for what happens to us and likely, for the people around us as well. Laws are there to be abided, and we're free to choose if we'll follow or not. Though again, there are consequences for our choices and actions.

we think we have a free will but in the end god has everything under controll, including the mess and the good parts of life.

Of course, we can only change ourselves and it needs determination. We have freewill loke the freedom to choose what we like, what we want but of course, our conscience makes us think twice and balance our situation. In the end, it is our will that will pursue this decision and action.

I must admit I was disturbed when I first watched a video of this, with the guy in an mri solving those simple math problems. I haven't read into the actual study but it seems they can only predict what decision the brain would make for simple questions.

It does make me question how much of my actions are consciously made and if those "conscious" decisions were truly something I made or if they were influenced by more external factors than I'd like to admit.


Yup, heuristics is an energy-saving mechanism. Imagine having to think through every movement involved in brushing your teeth.

God expresses in the Bible that people have free will. We simply don't have a clue as to how it works. And, the free will that we use every day, is artificial free will.

Proverbs 16:9 shows the way God and man are involved in mans' free will: "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps."

For more passages that help to explain (or confuse), see https://www.openbible.info/topics/free_will.

no they don't

A mosquito can bite you. But if it doesn't bite hard enough or in just the right spot, you won't notice... even if you feel it a little. But if it bites you just a little harder, you will slap at it. It prompted you to act. If it hadn't prompted you, you wouldn't have acted. No free will there. simple a set pattern.

No matter what you think or do, how do you know that there isn't something prompting you to do it? Maybe there are many little things that jointly push you to think or act in a specific way. Since you can't put your finger on any of them, you think that you had free will to choose what you chose.

Starving kids in Africa can choose to eat all they want. But they can't eat if there isn't any food. Does the fact that they didn't eat prove that they chose not to eat? So, why would the fact that we get some of the results of our choices be the determining factor that we had free will?

Nearly 90% of human behavior (in my humble estimation) manifests itself in habits that are automatic but yet can be changed. This ability and power to change oneselve's habits is free will. Also, mindfulness and attention is the key to change

There is no free will, Instead what is presented to you is an illusion of choice. You can be good or be bad, but good and bad is subjective and changes from person to person. One mans pain could be another mans pleasure, just as one mans trash is another mans treasure. It is a Hegelian dialectic, problem , reaction and solution. Let's take religion for example, free will comes down to follow my commandments or don't and suffer.
(Religion in a nutshell).
  Sunny days wouldn't be special, if it wasn't for rain, Joy wouldn't feel so good, if it wasn't for pain. In order to see the light you must first realize your in the dark. Truth or lies, Hot or cold, yin and yang.
What is this choice you speak of, I can't find it? I didn't choose to be born,  but I guess i'm here (not my choice). If we are dying just to live, why are we living just to die?
I'm willing to bet you that black scientist guy was right, about super-string theory and finding self correcting code within the very fabric of the universe, suggesting that we live within a highly sophisticated simulation.

Just a theory 

Free will with genetics and environmental considerations. Your genetics might make you angry, happy and so forth, and that has a major influence. And within that influence you have freewill.

franky1 had to post that^^. He was required to. He doesn't have any free will. So, don't blame him. He's only a rock in the road.

to rebut baddeckers religious nonsense
if you only follow 'god' then you are just a lame follower that cant make choices of your own.

by not following 'god' then that is free will because you are no longer following. your leading.
so by the proof that people do sin and dont just follow. shows they have more free will than those that stupidly and blindly follow 'god'

..
translated to athiest
instead of just automatically breathing.. if you choose to hold your breath.. you are showing your free will choice of how to control your body. your not on autopilot just living life.
if your body is attracted to a female and you choose not to buy her a drink. your showing your free will to go against your most basic of desires.
if you go on hunger strike. your going against your bodies most basic needs. again freewill.

but just being a zombie on autopilot ust reacting impulsively .. just makes you dumb

..
some people think they dont have a choice. you always have a choice.
you may not like the choices and not be able to be smart enough to think beyond the choices to form an alternative option thats not presented to you. but you o have choices.

if someone told me i had 2 options. to either shut up or get banned.
a dumb person would think there are only two options. but to me i see other alternatives beyond them two. so i have free will

its like the god followers who think there is just sin and no sin.. dont do a crime or do a crime.. others however think there are other options like do a crime just dont get caught.
dont do a crime but find another way to get what you want.
its never just a 2 option game in the real world.

At its root, humans do have free will. In the example you give, the outcome will be completely random if done with multiple participants. I believe each person is wired differently in a unique way, and as a result, each of our subconscious minds will think of a number at random in different ways, some people maybe recalling a common number they use when asked this question, others maybe picking their "lucky" or "favorite" number, and I believe we are all different in this way.
However, I think in many ways, on a grander scale, that we are subconsciously coerced into taking certain paths in our lives where we believe we are doing so with free will, but it is really due to influence from our surroundings/society. For example, a student graduating from high school and picking what college they are going to attend, they believe they are doing so with free will, when in reality there are a large number of factors that go into what college you are attending that is out of your control. Suggestions from a guidance counselor, teacher, or even what school is popular to attend among your peers, all come into play when making this decision. This could be extended to jobs, career paths... etc.
In a simpler example, I've seen examples of this done with crowds of people at lets say a magic show. In this case, the performer would ask the audience to think of a shape within another shape in their mind, along with a color. The performer would then guess off the top of his head a certain combo of shapes, and the audience was amazed at the fact that almost all of them thought of the same set of shapes. They believed they were using free will to think of this combination, when in reality, the performer was drawing particular shapes in the air with his fingers while giving the instructions, and nobody noticed. It was their subconscious mind that allowed them to think of the shapes initially, but all of their subconscious minds were influenced in the same way, just without their knowledge of it.

Seen this mentioned in a science channel in Youtube at least 2 years ago and it indeed creates many questions. If our brain has already made a decision before we are conscious of it it, did we really "decided" it? If we "changed" our mind about a decision we are about to take, did we really changed or was it already predetermined and the "changed decision" part is just us consciously justifying what our unconscious has decided for us. Of course people can still argue that we will be responsible for the outcome (it is after all still our own brain), but up to what extent are we responsible?

And this concern more than just the question of free will. So far they can predict how we'll answer mathematical questions but what happens when it gets advanced enough to predict most actions, will we be dealt with before we even commit a crime?


I forgot where I read it but this reminded me of one article that stated that individuals are hard to predict but as a group, people are VERY predictable. It turns out we do still act in herds.

However, everything that man attempts to control is filtered by God. So, it is the things of God that become the real result.

Yes every man has this free will Humans can do everything as they are independent but it is a matter of their personal brains Everything is revealed to man through his behavior Now humans can control everything themselves think good or bad learn something new they control their brains.

We all have free will. But we have to think before we act. We think about the consequences and the cost of opportunities. Societies norms are taken into considerations. Nowadays, we are too influenced that conditioned our daily lives. I am not into mainstream media and the current trends but I still need to play smart in the game of life well.   

It's not like you are being forced to believe what they want you to believe. You still have the option to not fall for the manipulation. Switch off media or internet.

Individuals still don't have free will.
Everything and everyone is manipulated.
Via the internet or the media your critical mind is manipulated according to what they want you to believe.

A million of storage that the brain has so there are a lot of idea that comes from our head.  Even we don't want to think something we do always remember it.  Sometimes we can't control our brain but sometimes we can.  We have a free will from everything by the use of our body but remember that we are the one or the idea we have are because of our surroundings.