Free will...or...want your mind blown?

[disappoint]

Most people think they have free will. They are confident they choose to make the decisions they make themselves.

More often than not, most people do not choose to make the decisions they make themselves, but someone or something else chooses for them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHrGgwASTF4

How many of the decisions you think you've made in your life were made for you before you even knew what you'd decided?

 

[pete6032]

Twelve

 

[gorcorps]

I wish I had someone to make more of my decisions. I have about 7 different outdoor projects going and they're all kind of stagnant because I can't make up my mind about what to do.

 

[KeithP]

More often than not, most people do not choose to make the decisions they make themselves, but someone or something else chooses for them.

Complete rubbish.

Just because a person's choices are predictable, doesn't mean they didn't have free will to make those choices.

-KeithP

 

[Yakk]

Hmm, if someone's "free will" is based on past experiences and memories; it stands to reason that if we could harness this knowledge then we could develope an algorithm to predict any choices based on these harnessed conditions.

Free will may exist, but the definition may not be what a lot of people think it means.

 

[SagaLore]

I wish I had someone to make more of my decisions. I have about 7 different outdoor projects going and they're all kind of stagnant because I can't make up my mind about what to do.

Put the 7 projects down in a numbered list. I will then tell you a number, and you finish that project.

 

[Tweak155]

I've seen a number of Derren Brown's videos, they're usually pretty interesting to watch. But even he himself has hinted that they're not all real, and he's mainly an entertainer. I haven't looked into him in a long time, but I remember him admitting as such or something similar.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

More often than not, most people do not choose to make the decisions they make themselves, but someone or something else chooses for them.

1) Restricting choices in advance is not related to free will. Asking a group of subjects to choose a random number between 1-10 does not lead to an earth-shattering conclusion when nobody picks 17.

2) Much like John Edwards, hack magicians or YouTube basketball trick shots, you can film something 1000 times and only broadcast the 1 in 1000 you got it right. Predicting a random outcome by chance is in no way linked to free will.

 

[BudAshes]

I'd rather have something else blown

 

[twinrider1]

I choose to not watch the video. See, that was easy.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I choose to not watch the video. See, that was easy.

The poor reviews and utter contempt shown towards said video robbed you of your free will and forced you to not watch. It was not your choice.

 

[Homerboy]

Put the 7 projects down in a numbered list. I will then tell you a number, and you finish that project.

He can't make up his mind on WHAT to do, not WHICH to do.

 

[disappoint]

1) Restricting choices in advance is not related to free will. Asking a group of subjects to choose a random number between 1-10 does not lead to an earth-shattering conclusion when nobody picks 17.

2) Much like John Edwards, hack magicians or YouTube basketball trick shots, you can film something 1000 times and only broadcast the 1 in 1000 you got it right. Predicting a random outcome by chance is in no way linked to free will.

Complete rubbish.

Just because a person's choices are predictable, doesn't mean they didn't have free will to make those choices.

-KeithP

Yes I expected the "I am in denial" contingent to drop by shortly.

Their choices were not only predictable, they were made for them.

 

[brianmanahan]

i neff, therefore i am

 

[Ken g6]

If pilot wave theory is correct the whole universe may be deterministic, and predetermined.

 

[William Gaatjes]

Your unconscious mind comes up with thoughts, but it is you who still has to decide it. Since everything with a brain is a habit creature and the brain tries to predict current and future situations based on past experiences, it is kind of obvious that as an outside bystander you can predict what someone might do if you observe them and motivate them in the right way. But probability is not a guarantee : probability < 1.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Yes I expected the "I am in denial" contingent to drop by shortly.

Their choices were not only predictable, they were made for them.

Even more predictable is the inability of the truly gullible to wise up and understand what's really happening. There are only so many logical ways to arrange furniture in a room. No sane person puts a chair in the middle of a doorway, a coffee table half in the fireplace and a sofa facing a blank wall from one foot away. We have all been living with furniture our entire lives and we all have pretty much the same experiences with what works and what doesn't work. Your coat rack and umbrella stand go by the main entrance, not in an upstairs bedroom. Your beds go in bedrooms, not in bathroom. Your lamps are placed next to seating areas and your seating areas are arranged to allow foot traffic to flow from one area to another without detouring outside because "free will" made somebody block off all the doorways with bookcases. It's not a lack of free will that leads to a certain predictability of furniture layout, it's common sense. Try exercising a little yourself.

We all have the free will to put a toilet in the middle of the living room, but most of us would be able to understand that's a freaking stupid idea and then exercise our free will to NOT do it.

 

[Kaido]

I choose to not watch the video. See, that was easy.

See, that's what they wanted to happen

/adjusts tinfoil hat