-2
Is there free will?
(youtu.be)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2026
-2 points (43.8% liked)
Science
20195 readers
43 users here now
Subscribe to see new publications and popular science coverage of current research on your homepage
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
even on small scale. I feel its like. if we offer food to someone who is hungry they have no free will because we knew all that or like change it to the food you offered is something they like and you know they can't resist and are not on a diet or you know they are on a diet and have an iron will so they will refuse it or you know they are stuffed to the gills and will refuse it. none of that removes the agency of deciding to me.
If an action is 100% predictable based on inputs (hunger, preference, brain state), then it’s not a choice it’s a reaction. Just because we feel like we are choosing doesn't mean we are. We are just witnessing the result of a complex biological equation that has already been solved by our neurons. What do you think?
I disagree. basically its impossible to have free will if it has a structure and process. Its like because your actions are driven by your senses, logic, and feelings its not free will. But that is the nature of being. There could be no free will with that because its defining anything that comes from anything as not being free will. If a god exists he would not have free will because he exists and therefore has being and therefore has mechanisms of action. Its not an argument against free will its an argument about free will being the result of some spiritual mumbo jumbo like a soul.
Our genetics and environment (especially childhood experiences) basically program us and shape our brains. A lot of what we do stems from those early codes we were given. But we can overcome them through therapy, awareness, new experiences, etc. That said, if the very desire and ability to overcome those patterns weren’t wired into us from the start (genetics, upbringing, etc.). That’s a different story.
Thats what I kinda mean. Its like we have a mechanism of being and yeah you go back to if you know the path of every particle in the universe right up to you you could maybe 100% say what will be but its something that can't happen. Because we and nothing we know of can 100% say what decisions we will make. Because we can be shocked, awed, or laugh at what we would see as crazy decisions. Effectively everyone has free will in my book.