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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[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 day ago

What about randomness? Most people would say to be random is not to have free will.

[-] djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 day ago

This depends, because there are two different kinds of randomness. A lot of the "randomness" that people encounter is actually based upon something, and our theoretical entity with access to perfect information could predict the outcome of that randomness perfectly. I'm thinking of stuff like computer randomness, number generation, games of chance, that sort of thing.

However, true random absolutely exists; in the words of Terry Pratchett "Things just happen, what the hell." You see it with mutations in nature; ordinarily healthy cells can spontaneously change without directed input. It is unpredictable, even for our theoretical entity.

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 day ago

Or like quantum systems, in the interpretations that prevent alternate universes. The first kind is called "pseudorandomness" in mathematics.

Usually, when people say free will they don't just mean that their decisions are random, though.

this post was submitted on 20 May 2025

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