Do you believe in free will? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 day ago by Dr_Box@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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There is an argument that free will doesn't exist because there is an unbroken chain of causality we are riding on that dates back to the beginning of time. Meaning that every time you fart, scratch your nose, blink, or make lifechanging decisions there is a pre existing reason. These reasons might be anything from the sensory enviornment you were in the past minute, the hormone levels in your bloodstream at the time, hormones you were exposed to as a baby, or how you were parented growing up. No thought you have is really original and is more like a domino affect of neurons firing off in reaction to what you have experienced. What are your thoughts on this?

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[-] Lumidaub@feddit.org 17 points 1 day ago

The question is meaningless, the answer doesn't affect reality, unless you propose an external mind that is controlling or at least influencing our decisions.

[-] Azzu@lemm.ee 8 points 1 day ago

Even with the external mind it'd be irrelevant. As long as we have no way of knowing the future or being able to predict it, having or not having free will is observed in exactly the same way.

[-] Lumidaub@feddit.org 4 points 23 hours ago

If there were some external mind, one might at least speculate about its reasons. Which would probably be futile since it would influence those considerations too. Hm. Yeah.

this post was submitted on 20 May 2025

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