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What do you believe in?
(lemmy.ca)
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this post was submitted on 28 May 2025
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Free will is an illusion.
Either as Hard determinism (60% confidence in this theory), or as in some form of Quantum randomness (40% confidence in this theory), you cannot just willy nilly pick something. Its just an algorithm, and, possibly, a little bit of randomness, if Quantum randomness is true.
I have a crackpot theory that I enjoy for the sake of enjoying it. What if our “soul” or “consciousness” is the collapse of the quantum field. Our decisions moment to moment aren’t random chance, but the unspeakable thing.
Again, pure speculation, but it’s a lot more satisfying and rewarding to live by than throwing moral responsibility to the universe.
Nah, if I commit a warcrime, I'm blaming the universe.
Aint my fault, should've made me a master
My understanding is that, according to the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, everything that can happen will happen - so for every choice you’ve made, there’s an alternate timeline for every other possible choice you could have made. But it still makes no sense to claim that you could’ve acted differently in this timeline.
This many worlds thing I find that it is easier to visualise as an extra dimension with all the other dimensions within it, including time.
I dunno man. I’m currently in my time-space experiencing whatever I can. Is it my “decision” to not deteriorate in a pile of my own waste? Who knows! I’ll be dead before we have an answer, and I’m not a philosopher, so I might as well be an armchair optimist in the meantime.
Just because I probably could “disprove” my theory with science, I think the concept of self and science are inherently incompatible with our current model. So until someone can disprove my experience with the world, I’ll continue “choosing” to accept it.
Free will and the “self” - just two sides of the same coin. You’re not free to choose, because there’s no “you” in the first place. You’re just a collection of atoms obeying the laws of physics. It makes no sense to say you could’ve done otherwise. No, you couldn’t - whatever caused you to make a decision in the first place would compel you to make the same choice every single time, no matter how many times you rewound the universe, assuming everything else stayed the same.
We do things for two reasons: either because we want to, or because we have to. There’s no freedom in being forced to do something - and you don’t get to choose your wants or don’t-wants.
I always understand "free will" to mean "figure out who you really are". I.e., every person has a certain character from birth, and that just unfolds throughout life. "Free will" is about figuring that out.