Just a heads up that this topic makes some people feel really uncomfortable to think about.
It’s because I don’t think the “self” exists either. Without a self there’s nothing that even could make decisions to begin with. I don’t believe in some “entity” or a “soul” somewhere inside our heads, behind our faces, looking out into the world and making independent decisions. We’re not authoring our thoughts and actions. They’re just appearing. You don’t know what you’re going to think next, and you can’t think of a thought before you think it. You can even observe this happening in real time by just paying close enought attention.
We’re biological beings that consist of matter, and matter obeys the laws of physics. “Free will” as in “I could’ve done otherwise” doesn’t make any logical sense to me. If we could go back in time we’d all do the same things all over again. That’s how deterministic universe works. The key factor here is consciousness. It feels like something to be. The sense of free will is probably useful belief for survival, but for the very least I’d argue that it’s not like most people think it is.
That’s an interesting take. Strikes me as a bit nihilistic, but I’m sure this is the most surface of explanations lacking the depth of concept to really get the idea across. I can’t say it jives with me, but I have heard less reasonable notions.
Yeah I find it interesting how many see the idea as negative. I find it freeing in many ways and it helps me make much better sense of the world and people, I think.
Sam Harris can explain it better than I ever could in case you’re interested.
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I’ll give him a listen. I enjoy hearing different points of view.
