Do we have free will?

[Horace]

There do not seem to be any socially constructive conclusions that fall out of the free will vs determinism debate. Sapolsky helpfully provided a few destructive ones, like how personal responsibility is meaningless. The subject is the ultimate academic wankery, except it can actually have negative consequences for anybody who takes it seriously.

[Aqua Letifer]

Since that's insane, here's a similar idea I've been kicking around for awhile:

I could pick up a glass of OJ or not if I wanted to right now. I could go for a drive or not. I could write something down with the pencil beside me.

But how inevitable was it that that pencil is shaped the way it is? That cars have 4 wheels instead of 5 or 3?

Very generally speaking, and yes the specific examples don't fit the curve perfectly, it seems to be that the more macro something is, the more inevitable its details were.

[jon-nyc]

Sam Harris had made the most convincing arguments about lack of free will, much better than sapolsky. Also there’s really no need to make the leap from no free will to not having variable outcomes based on behavior (eg corner offices and jails).

I read an earlier book by Sapolsky about human and primate behavior which was utterly fascinating.

[Jolly]

TULIP.

[Copper]

Free will looses meaning without out the ability to pursue the will.

[Horace]

@jon-nyc said in Do we have free will?:

Also there’s really no need to make the leap from no free will to not having variable outcomes based on behavior (eg corner offices and jails).

He doesn’t land on that conclusion, he only brushes past it in his philosophical meanderings.

[Horace]

@Copper said in Do we have free will?:

Free will looses meaning without out the ability to pursue the will.

Anna Nicole Smith pursued the will.

[Klaus]

@jon-nyc said in Do we have free will?:

Sam Harris had made the most convincing arguments about lack of free will, much better than sapolsky. Also there’s really no need to make the leap from no free will to not having variable outcomes based on behavior (eg corner offices and jails).

I read an earlier book by Sapolsky about human and primate behavior which was utterly fascinating.

I'm reading "Behave" right now. He's such a good writer.

[jon-nyc]

Weird coincidence!

[Klaus]

I think of free will as a point of view, as a way to view the world. It's not a statement that is true or false.

[Jolly]

@Klaus said in Do we have free will?:

I think of free will as a point of view, as a way to view the world. It's not a statement that is true or false.

It's free will or not, depending upon your current plane in the Multiverse.

[Doctor Phibes]

I chose not to post in this thread

[LuFins Dad]

What about Free Wifi? Does that exist?