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I think this shows that we are just a "chemical machine" with no soul or will of our own.

nobody9999 4y ago
>I think this shows that we are just a "chemical machine" with no soul or will of our own. My particular mix of parasites tells me to say that there is no soul, but free will does exist.
- KronisLV 4y ago
  > ...there is no soul, but free will does exist. This is an interesting one, depending on whether you subscribe to the beliefs that the universe is deterministic or not. If determinism were to be truly possible, then technically with enough information you could predict what is going to happen next, what anyone is going to think, say, do etc. In that case "free will" wouldn't be an entirely correct description. Then again, even if that were to be true, the amount of processing power to see how this "preordained" sequence of events would play out might be orders of magnitude more than laws of physics might permit, making it all a bit of a moot point. That said, there was a cool science fiction story about the concept, "What's expected of us": https://www.nature.com/articles/436150a https://www.nature.com/articles/436150a Of course, I doubt whether "free will" being real or not would matter that much to people in actuality. For example, my current understanding of the world makes me feel that once I eventually die, there will be nothing after that and I'll cease to exist. A moment in which my consciousness will exist and then another one in which it will no longer do so and will never do so, until the heat death of the universe (it won't matter to me then because there won't be a "me", but knowing that whilst being alive is the most horrible thought ever). It's quite dreadful, yet somehow I still get up for menial programming work every morning. :')
  - nobody9999 4y ago
    My parasites only allow me to say "My particular mix of parasites tells me to say that there is no soul, but free will does exist" and "My parasites only allow me to say 'My particular mix of parasites tells me to say that there is no soul, but free will does exist'."
- PartiallyTyped 4y ago
  My current state tells me that neither soul nor free will are possible in a closed system regardless of probabilistic events.
- d_tr 4y ago
  My question is, what does "free will" even mean?
  - altereds 4y ago
    I have the same question. Definition from Wikipedia "Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded." If your actions and decisions are a result of chemical and electrical activity in your brain, it does still mean that you are in control and unimpeded. Free will seems to exist in a middle state where you do not think of yourself as a soul separate from your physical form and where you accept yourself as a carbon based organism reacting to processes. Who is supposed to have this free will?

>I think this shows that we are just a "chemical machine" with no soul or will of our own. My particular mix of parasites tells me to say that there is no soul, but free will does exist.

KronisLV 4y ago
> ...there is no soul, but free will does exist. This is an interesting one, depending on whether you subscribe to the beliefs that the universe is deterministic or not. If determinism were to be truly possible, then technically with enough information you could predict what is going to happen next, what anyone is going to think, say, do etc. In that case "free will" wouldn't be an entirely correct description. Then again, even if that were to be true, the amount of processing power to see how this "preordained" sequence of events would play out might be orders of magnitude more than laws of physics might permit, making it all a bit of a moot point. That said, there was a cool science fiction story about the concept, "What's expected of us": https://www.nature.com/articles/436150a https://www.nature.com/articles/436150a Of course, I doubt whether "free will" being real or not would matter that much to people in actuality. For example, my current understanding of the world makes me feel that once I eventually die, there will be nothing after that and I'll cease to exist. A moment in which my consciousness will exist and then another one in which it will no longer do so and will never do so, until the heat death of the universe (it won't matter to me then because there won't be a "me", but knowing that whilst being alive is the most horrible thought ever). It's quite dreadful, yet somehow I still get up for menial programming work every morning. :')
- nobody9999 4y ago
  My parasites only allow me to say "My particular mix of parasites tells me to say that there is no soul, but free will does exist" and "My parasites only allow me to say 'My particular mix of parasites tells me to say that there is no soul, but free will does exist'."
PartiallyTyped 4y ago
My current state tells me that neither soul nor free will are possible in a closed system regardless of probabilistic events.
d_tr 4y ago
My question is, what does "free will" even mean?
- altereds 4y ago
  I have the same question. Definition from Wikipedia "Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded." If your actions and decisions are a result of chemical and electrical activity in your brain, it does still mean that you are in control and unimpeded. Free will seems to exist in a middle state where you do not think of yourself as a soul separate from your physical form and where you accept yourself as a carbon based organism reacting to processes. Who is supposed to have this free will?