Do we really have free will?

Question

do we have free will tell me and what is the point in everything if we dont

Answer 1

Yes, we have free will. Recent advances in neuroscience suggest some viable explanations for how we can have free will. Google "CEMI field theory" for more info.



Without free will, life is pretty much pointless. Nobody would have any incentive to do anything because whatever happens was destined to happen regardless of what we do. Pretty bleak, don't you think?



Darwin's natural selection tells us that our greatest attribute (intelligence) is necessarily evolved to do what it does: make choices. Human intelligence is NOT predetermined by some causal chain reaction set off by the Big Bang. We are INFLUENCED by causality but not absolutely controlled by it.



In physics, causality rules the INANIMATE physical universe. Until life came along (10 to 12 billion years after the big bang) the universe was entirely inanimate. With life, matter gained motility: the ability to move about WITHOUT outside influence. Motility is one obvious difference between animate and inanimate matter.



Many animals, particularly mammals, appear to possess consciousness -- if not intelligence. Certainly, humans possess both. The introduction of consciousness wrought another milestone in the history of the universe -- and only animals possess it.



I would define intelligence as the ability to anticipate, plan for, and use causality for independent reasons. Human intelligence certainly fits that bill. Human intelligence is the latest milestone in the evolution of life. This milestone came about in just the last 1 or 2 hundred thousand years: a mere drop in the bucket of cosmic time. We are on the cusp of an evolutionary revolution that is accelerating at breakneck speed.



The first phase of universal history -- the Inanimate Phase -- lasted 10 to 12 billion years. The second phase -- the Animate Phase -- has been around for 3.5 billion years. The most recent phase -- the Human Phase -- has only existed for a hundred thousand years or two. The duration of these phases are shrinking exponentially. The next phase might well involve the combination of human intelligence with artificial intelligence. Who knows?



But one thing's for sure: we ALL live, work, play and plan as if we have free will. "Hard" determinists might claim that's an illusion. I claim they can't see the forests for the trees. Yes, causality is an undeniable fact of physical existence. However, its absolute realm is the INANIMATE, physical, universe. For instance, if I hit a billiard ball on the right side, it will veer left every time. If I hit a worm on the right side, it might coil into a writhing knot or wiggle to the right or accelerate forward or whatever. Clearly, ANIMATE BEINGS react to causality differently than INANIMATE THINGS.



Human intelligence is another example of why animate beings can't be treated as if they're the same inanimate stuff as the rest of the universe. If you read the recent neuroscientific literature, you'll find the human brain has many feedback mechanisms performing various functions. There's at least one feedback mechanism that grants us the power of mind over matter (brain). This feedback mechanism is reliably demonstrated by the "bio-feedback machine". With this machine, just a few physiological readouts of subconscious processes allow us to control those processes with a little practice.



Mental feedback is the key to free will. It seems incredible but we are able -- via mental feedback -- to direct the very brain that spawns our consciousness. This is a powerful fact because it allows us to counter the inexorable tide of causality.



My favorite example of this is the 1969 manned mission to the moon. Hard determinists who say that our actions and fate are predetermined by causality, are claiming that all the coordination, cooperation, resources and effort it took to put man on the moon was inevitable and scripted ever since the Big Bang. If you’re a determinist, then you believe all the details involved with putting man on the moon were predetermined billions of years ago. With a script so precise and mystical, you might as well say God wrote it.



Yeah, right . . . “May the the force be with you.”



The "compatibilist" view that free will coexists with causality goes much further than determinism to explain our special role in the universe: including our achievements, failures and limitations.

Answer 2

There are too many problems with free will. As of right now I don't think we do. It might just be better to accept this with all the problems.



Oh, and even if we did have free will. The same question still needs an answer. What is the point in everything. Just the mere fact that we have free will says nothing for that question.





edit: @ Seeker:



"In physics, causality rules the INANIMATE physical universe. Until life came along (10 to 12 billion years after the big bang) the universe was entirely inanimate. With life, matter gained motility: the ability to move about WITHOUT outside influence. Motility is one obvious difference between animate and inanimate matter."



got a couple questions for ya if you don't mind.



first off, how is it possible that matter moves without outside influence? I'm just curious about this, because that would seem to violate the laws of physics. Matter just doesn't do random stuff on its own. They are governed by the laws of nature as far as we know. And even if I grant you this mysterious causality (it almost seems as if you want to say it is 'causeless' if that even makes sense), what is it about what we call 'life' that allows for this? Because after all, we are just ultimately constructed out of atoms. Every bit of us. Just like your "inanimate" universe before life arose. It is the same substance. So what extra element is added that you claim is able to go above and beyond the laws of nature?



Second, and this is a smaller point, and perhaps irrelevant, why do you say that the universe was "INANIMATE" for 10 to 12 billion years after the Big Bang? I hope you're not just basing that on the history of life on Earth. In my opinion that is very egocentric and implies that life on Earth was the first (or only) life in the universe. I think this is silly. Again, probably an irrelevant point, but I just wanted to point that out.

Answer 3

I think we do have free will up to a point.



If we don't know about something, it can never be one of our options even though it might be something we would choose if we knew about it - say information about it has been withheld or is simply outside of the knowledge of anyone we come into contact with.



We all live within social groups of family, friends, school, work, religion, clubs or whatever. As social animals, we are influenced by those around us and so may be less inclined to exercise a choice that deviates from accepted norms with one or more of those social groups.



Some things we might choose are illegal so I cannot exercise my free will to steal your car, for example. Some things would be unlawful (though not criminal) so (in the UK) I am not free to exercise my freewill to trespass on your land. Sometimes we may lack access to what we would wish to choose - I cannot snorkel in the Caribbean if I lack the time, money and passport to get there. Sometimes the exercise of our free will would impact on the rights of someone else so, to that extent, the exercise of our free will would be curtailed.



On balance, I believe we have some free will but only within prescribed limits.

Answer 4

Depends on how you look at it I guess. It lies within certain boundaries. Sure we can drive wherever we want when we want technically, but there are obligations like work and family that restrain that.



If you look at it another way, we have total freewill and the world is essentially a playground as long as we are smart enough not to "screw up". For example, Humans have always had the capacity to kill, and we could really just go kill whoever we want, but our freewill to do that is influenced by the repercussions of the law. If you don't get caught though, your totally satisfying freewill.



So i've come to the conclusion that yes, we do have freewill, but there is just the power of suggestion by things like Law that limit how far we will let our freewill take us.

Answer 5

I think the other answers have missed the point. We neither have free will, nor are controlled by mysterious fates or destiny. Every response we make is the only response we could have made at that time, given the conditions of the moment, and all that came before in our lives. This is not predetermined, it is random. Our lives intersect with other lives, other people's actions shaped by all that they have seen and done before that moment. They respond, we respond. It shapes our experience and our future. These are a series of accidents, and so we all flow in relation to one another and our own histories, from moment to moment. Thus we have no true free will, but the illusion of choice. Of all the choices, we only make one, it is the only one we could have made given all of the conditions in that moment.



What is the point? So many points from so many angles. To live, to experience, to share, to connect with others and help to shape their worlds using the best of what we have to give.

Answer 6

It depends upon your own personal doctrine.



I believe in fate. As such, I don't believe in the reality of free will, because I believe that we are just living out what fate has already written. Every time we make a choice, it was one that fate had already pre-ordained.



And check this out; if you became dissatisfied with living a life of fate, and you decided to end it, guess what; fate has already decided you would do that too.



So, I ask you; are you content to live a life of fate? If so, there is nothing wrong with that...nothing at all.



Edit; Steve, well said.

Answer 7

Yes, I think we have free will up to the nth degree, somewhat beyond even the limited awareness we have of how we are conducting ourselves in making our choices and living out our lives in their most practical and visible elements. I think that everything that we do is defined to the utmost by our free will decisions and choices. When you look at the course your life has taken, I think it is always possible to trace those life happenings squarely back to our core values and modus operandi. Cowardice can make it seem like we are being controlled by outside forces and other people with their own ideas for us, and thus that we are determinists, but they will only control us if we give them our permission to do so, and refuse to stand up for ourselves by not clearly defining our own personal values, so it comes back to us in the end. Of course, there is always the possibility that if we stand our ground with regards to our own choices, that other people will try and penalize us for not backing down in the face of their resistance to our plans, but I certainly do not think that there is some categorical imperative why we must take a little resistance to us from others as the last word in why we should reject our own plans, denouncing free will, and suggesting that we live in a wholly deterministic (externally causative) world. After all, we are all free or all bound together, as I am sure the causal nexus must operate in the same way for all sentient beings.



I think that the determinist viewpoint is inherently linked to the idea that we have a secret hidden reason for allowing what we think we do not want, but then we can always look back and see how we have allowed certain things merely as a part of the overall will for power and control that is so central to the whole notion of acting in a way that advertises free will. As for the idea that everything we do is merely a by-product of what has moulded us in the past, I think that what we are moulded by is not, in fact, the past, but rather our own free will, and our tendency to blame the past is ultimately just a way of defending our past value structures and strategies when they have not undergone significant change from what they were when they led us in those past experiences in which we may not feel that we were acting in such a way as matched up to some external picture we had of what would have been more helpful and profitable to us given what might be termed populist thought.

I think that by and large we are in some manner bound by the nature of our own specific being, and what it drives us to do, but I don't think that because the cat likes fish and the fish likes swimming in the sea, that that requires them (or us) to be causally determined beings. Free will is the propensity for acting in a manner consonant with that which our nature leads us to do with our own lives.

Answer 8

I think free will is an illusion. And so do a lot of other people.



And what is the point?



I just love being alive. To see what happens next. Always surprises!

Surprises in what happens and in what I do and say.

It is all just fantastic!



But if you want to have a purpose and feel that YOU have achieved that purpose - then you have just got to believe in your free will.

Answer 9

If i gets a gamble to make a element unfastened to would magogi ki mujhay bhaut sara nutrition miley jo ki would un garib people's would baat saku jinay ki nutrition nahi mil tha or bina nutrition kay hi mar ja thay hai.

Answer 10

No we do not have free will we all go by a specific prophecy we were given by god before we were born

Answer 11

The point is Daniel we have free will but do we recognise wisdom?

Answer 12

Everyone else in the world does except you. We all knew you would ask this question and then not give me top answer.



Prove you have free will and prove me wrong.

Answer 13

Hint: Seek a therapist if in doubt that you have free will.

Answer 14

We have free will as long as what we do does not hurt anybody else.

Answer 15

free will only exited in the caveman ages, its extincted

Answer 16

No we don`t.Everything is about determinism.And there is no point to anything.

Answer 17

I wanted to say yes, but it was fated that I would answer "no"

Answer 18

no, same as before.