Free Will Guide
(Top Posts - Philosophy (General) - 062003)

Imagine being an independent observer of all that is, every physical event, literally trillions upon trillions of them in each fraction of a second of time we happen to be aware of (in the particular space-time continuum we inhabit).

If one could objectively quantify and determine all that consists of, would not each fraction of a second beget the physical and natural result as expressed in the next fraction of a second, with the only option for deviance being the random activity of the brain and of the quantum domain apart from causality as we understand it?

Would not, then, a combination of causal and random factors logically beget the totality of each moment in time?

Links to posts on memes, free will, determinism, randomness, and the nature of brain activity ...

Free Will vs. Determinism (051003) "Fascinating topic, free will, illusion or reality or somewhere in between. ..."

Free Will and Randomness (050603) "If you perceive one's brain activity as both a result of naturalistic factors -and- naturalistic ** randomness ** (i.e., competition between neurons / synapses), therein resides the totality of being naturalistically explained, apart from absolute determinism, and apart from so-called absolute "free will". ..."

Time / Brain / Behavior (043003) "The quantification of human behavior remains beyond the capabilities of modern day science. .... it is theoretically plausible to conjecture that all behavior, from human to the simplest creatures, are results of stimuli and the physical laws of nature in reaction to that stimuli. ..."

Recent Research : Mind - Brain - Behavior ... (122202) "... results from genes-stimuli-experiences and probabilities based on a milieu of activities, a relatively small amount of which one is cognizant of or in any way in control of, as well as random non-determinable activity being an integral part of the nature of the mind, brain, and behavior ... helpful resources, including recent research ..."

Free Will (101002) "... What is a choice? A result, no more, no less, an outcome of neuronal competition and naturalistic events constrained by the physics of the space-time continuum in which we find ourselves, biology, and (from a larger perspective) the nature of all that ever has been that happened to lead to the particular space-time continuum in which we exist. ..."

Brain-Body ... Destiny ... Who Are We, Really? (061502) "You are your brain, more or less, with all that surrounds your brain being the support mechanism interacting with, impacting, and required for your brain to exist. ..."

You, I, We - Time for a Change in Perception (051102) "Philosophically speaking, every act and every deed and every thought in every now, both random -and- caused, entails an unfathombably vast "we" including everyone and everything else, all results of all that is and all that ever was ..."

Programming / Reason / Emotion (050102) "The programming tasks done by persons employed in the computer programming profession are done based on reason, with emotion subservient, rather than emotion, with reason subservient. Emotions have underlying reasons, physical in nature, not existing apart from the mind-body, but instead, a consequence of genes + stimuli + random brain activity. ..."

Decisions = Stimuli + Random Brain Activity (091101) "Neurophysiologists have discovered clusters of brain nerve cells that respond to identical stimulus at random rates each time the stimulus is provided. The response is as random as is the flip of a coin as to whether or not it turns up heads or tails. ..."

Biology and Ethics (070701) "... There appears to be a growing consensus that, given a certain genetic constitution-and within the bounds of that endowment-whatever man is, he learns to be, especially in respect to values, morality, and customs. Baser appetitive needs, however, may have a genetic component that is greater than an environmental one. ..."

Key Flaw of Christianity (062301) "... Is there any valid argument, by christians, for a dogma of self-determination and 'free will' yielding your immortal destiny, yet your immortal destiny is dependent totally on the dogma you're exposed to which is totally outside of your control? ..."

Circle of All That Is (051801) "... Persons of faith use a magic being world (some struggling against naturalism, others willing to accept naturalism as being at play in varying degrees) to describe all that is. ... Persons of non-faith comprehend a natural world as explaining all that is, with mystery and unknowns dealt with in varied ways ... "

The Inevitable and Eternal Now (032701) "... we reduce an unfathomably vast array of stimuli to an illusion of "choice" regarding the past/present/future, which is really nothing more than an inevitable result of all that has taken place in the eternal now. ..."

Quantum, Quantum, Wherefore Art Thou, Quantum? (032501) "... Free Will and the quantum world? ... I have yet to find anything that connects the world of the Very Very Very Very Very Tiny (1/50.8 millionths of an inch) to a free will philosophy in the macro world ... The effort to connect the free will of humans to the uncertainty in the world of the Very Very Very Very Very Tiny is flawed at best and is not based on science but, instead, is based on the desire of humans to perceive that they have free will (IMO). ..."

The Amazing Illusion of Choice (032401) "... I am a result, this post is a result, of all that has been before this moment in my life, all my genes, memes, and life experiences, and all genes that have come before me that are a part of my genes, as well as all memes that led to the memes that influenced me as well as all life experiences and pre-life experiences that led to the life experiences I've been exposed to <deep breath>, no more, no less. ..."

We are all One ... (102500) "... with the cosmos. We flow through life with the illusion of control, but with very little we are actually in control of, an inevitable event/being in a vast cosmos of time and space, inextricably linked to one another and to our surroundings in which we find ourselves. ..."

What is a Meme and What Can We Do About It? (102500) "... Excerpts from Chapter 11 of Richard Dawkins' classic, The Selfish Gene, in which he introduces us to the Meme ..."

The Altruism Trick (102500) "Excerpt from chapter 13 of 'The Meme Machine', by Susan Blackmore ..."

Why Am I Not You? (081200) "and why are you not me? If you were me, would you be me or would you be you? If I were you, would I be you or would I be me? ...