Monkeys, lets get philosophical:
Do you learn more towards the belief that people have free will and choice in their lives, or instead that the majority (or all) of our behavior is influenced by our environment?
Take today for example, what % of your actions that you undertook today were 100% under your free will? and what % were in some way influenced by your environment?
| +46 | Interviews Are So Fake | 28 | 16h | |
| +33 | 2024 UK Election - Tories finished? | 21 | 17h | |
| +29 | Being Christian in investment banking | 14 | 1d | |
| +27 | Non-Competes Banned | 27 | 24m | |
| +22 | ADHD ! | 5 | 4h | |
| How do I become Sigma | 15 | 10h | ||
| +19 | Moelis has the cutest Analysts? | 4 | 1d | |
| +18 | Best NYC neighborhood for single 30M | 12 | 3d | |
| +16 | Underage intern, drinking? | 7 | 1d | |
| +13 | Secretive vs Universal Prestige? | 7 | 1d |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
I feel like the school of thought that says that there is "no free will" have redefined the idea of free will.
It just seems like a bunch of semantics. Like, yeah, my environment and things around me influence the decisions I make, but I still have to make decisions.
Though I haven't quite made up my mind, it is pretty easy to logically argue that free will cannot exist. That is, our bodies are made up of the same inanimate atoms that make up the table I am sitting at. If you wound back the clock long enough (i.e. the big bang), you could, theoretically, predict the movements of the atoms indefinitely into the future. Much like you could predict the movements of billiards balls according to the laws of physics if you know the force and angle that the cue ball is hit. Now, some point to quantum uncertainty as a basis for free will and argue that nature, at its core, is unpredictable and truly random. This, whether true or not, hardly leaves room for free will anyways. Indeterminism/randomness is no more free than determinism.
1.) Quantum uncertainty is reality
2.) Consciousness throws another wrench into the whole free will equation. If we are all just a bunch of billiard balls set in motion at the big bang, why is there any need for subjective experience? Why does it exist?
Dunno if you have read the black swan, Taleb makes an interesting point regarding the billiard balls thought exp't. He points out that by the 9th move you need to take the gravity of the pool player into account, and by the 56th move you need to know the characteristics of an electron on the opposite end of the universe. ...though I imagine a sufficiently godlike intelligence could still do the math...
Basically, in my view, it comes down to materialism vs. immaterialism. If we do not have souls and our thoughts are merely caused by biological clockwork (pre-determined or random neuron-firings in our brain), then free will is merely an illusion. It seems like humans must some how be "above nature" if free will is to exist.
Now, I'm certainly not religious, but my own experience suggests pretty heavily that I do have free will. So I could argue that since my own subjective experience precedes any knowledge of the external world, then free will must exist and materialism is false. In truth I'm not sure what to believe. I feel like I have the ability to make rational decisions and weigh pros and cons, but then again I don't really know what the next thought to pop in my head will be.
And there's this quote: "If free will does not exist, then I have no choice but to believe it does."
Obviously I want to believe that we all have free will, because otherwise life seems even more pointless than it already does, but as someone who isn't religious, I have to agree with a deterministic view of the world. If there isn't some deity that created humanity, then there is no "soul." There is nothing within a human being beyond the physical atoms that make up everything in the world, as Illuminate said above.
If the human mind is nothing more than the brain, that is that it's nothing more than a ton of atoms structured in a certain way, then everything that happens within the brain is simply a consequence of physical processes. Given some insane level of computation power and knowledge of physics, we should be able to predict what the brain will do. Hence given some even more insane level of computation power, we should be able to predict what every animal, object, person in the world will do, and hence run a simulation of the world in real time as it plays out in front of us. Everything is then determined, there is no such thing as free will.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/Jint5kjoy6I
I've seen this video before and it falls victim to the same fallacy I mentioned above. Even if nature is uncertain at its core, that does not mean we have the ability to change it. According to quantum uncertainty, nature is random, which by definition we can't control. Indeterminism does not equate to free will.
If you're interested in the materialism vs. "something else" debate, check out Thomas Nagel's "Mind and Cosmos." It's a short read, though dense. I highly recommend it.
My own view is that there is probably a third way of looking at things. I don't think reductionist materialism has all the answers, particularly when it comes to consciousness. Also, we must keep in mind that whenever we try and make a materialist reduction of the universe, we are doing so through our own subjective point of view. It's impossible for us to be truly objective.
Is there a way to prove that we do or do not have free will? No, we can't. Any time I say I chose to type these words someone else can say that I was predestined to type them. We either do or we don't have free will and we can't prove otherwise (at least I can't).
The real question is: what can we do about it? Would your actions change if you knew the 'true' answer to the question of 'do we as humans truly have 'free will'? If the answer is A) we do not have free will, then your response is obviously that you will not change your future behavior, because you never had any control over it to begin with. If the answer is B) we do have free will, then there are multiple paths. Example path 1: you thought there was no free will before the reveal. You now realize that you can get off your fat ass and do something with your life. You control some things in life. Example path 2: You assumed you had some control in your life and had been making decisions that were to your benefit in life and this reveal does nothing to change your actions.
It is to your benefit to act as if you have free will, because if you: 1. Have free will: you can make positive decisions and can act on them 2. Don't have free will: it doesn't matter because you were predestined to read this post, buy into my logic, and believe that we have free will, but you will still be required to carry out your predestined actions in that case, the whole while thinking that you are acting of free will
So, the question is not do we have free will or don't we, but should we act as if we have free will or not. The answer is that we should.
PS -- I freely chose to throw you some monkey poo. Or did your post compel me to?
So now you might be tempted to just ignore the question, ignore the mystery of free will. Say "Oh, well, it's just an historical anecdote. It's sophomoric. It's a question with no answer. Just forget about it." But the question keeps staring you right in the face. You think about individuality for example, who you are. Who you are is mostly a matter of the free choices that you make. Or take responsibility. You can only be held responsible, you can only be found guilty, or you can only be admired or respected for things you did of your own free will. So the question keeps coming back, and we don't really have a solution to it. It starts to look like all our decisions are really just a charade.
Here's what I believe
If you are born to poor or moronic parents (a majority of people >60-70%, arbitrary #) are pretty much f*cked for life. Too many impediments, by the time you conquered them (if you do) all, you lost/wasted a lot of opportunities.
If you are hard working and have no major obstacles, you will find something you love, get good at it and live a happy life.
If you have no major obstacles and are lazy, go f*ck yourself for being a wastrel.
Back to your question, do we have free will? In my mind yes but your ability to exercise and FULLY capitalize on them/your desires depends on your environment.
Et consequatur itaque porro labore accusamus. Veniam accusamus libero ullam magnam modi est odio. Mollitia non debitis eos sapiente qui. Unde et dolores sed dolores.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...