Has anybody else picked this up yet? It’s really done a number on me. Prior to reading it I would consider myself a Stoic. One of my central philosophies being that “The choices I make define who I am”.

So obviously being told that my choices were never even mine to begin with was kind of a slap in the face.

It rings true though. The choices we make at any given time are a result of our genetics, or environment, the media we’ve consumed, how tired we are…

I’m not a stranger to the concept of Ego death but it had been a hot minute since I thought about it.

  • djbiddle37@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    What else could free will mean but the capacity to, when faced with multiple percieved options, select from among them?

    What statistically predicts this selection obviously includes factors such as genetics and environment, but much less than 100% of the variability in behaviour has been demonstrated to be explained by any combination of factors. In other words, there is still lots of room for some other factor that determines behaviour other than immutable characteristics/experiences (e.g. potentially ‘free will’).

    Some might argue, well yes that’s just because we haven’t measured them yet. Maybe…but that’s still an idea…and one the belief in which has been shown to predict worse outcomes.

    • Poiuytrewq0987650987@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      In my limited, layman’s thinking of this concept, it’s that you’re “free” to do anything you want. You just never will do anything you want, because of various ways you observe and apply decision-making to a given scenario.

      Can I go outside and set my car on fire? Sure. Will I? No, of course not. I’m prohibited from such a decision based on a variety of punitive factors against making such a decision, not to mention I’m not insane. I will never decide on a whim to set my car on fire.

      So… am I truly free to decide on such a course of action? Viewed in the context I just described… no, I don’t think I have free will.

      Go left or go right? Put yourself in the same situation a million times, under the same exact circumstances, you’ll make the same decision over and over again. You’ll never make the other decision.