Lately there has been a few different threads about FREE WILL. I decided to try a different approach to this theoretical discussion.

Here is a gun...

Here are some bullets...

How do the bullets get in the gun? ...How did the gun fire a shot? Did the bullets will themselves to just shoot...

Here are some bottles of alcohol...

Here is a mouth (forget the glass)...

How does the alcohol get into the mouth?

It just willed itself to fall out of the bottle into the mouth?

Here is a car...

Here is a drunk...

How did the car start and force the drunk to get in it and drive off?...

Here is a child...

Here is an adult...

Did the child force the adult to abuse them?...

Here is a woman walking down the street minding her own business...

Here is a scumbag looking for trouble...

Did the woman make the scumbag rape her?...

Here is your paycheck...

Here is the casino...

Did the casino force your paycheck to blow itself?

Here is your Free Will...

Here is your mind...

Did your mind force you to use your Free Will to make stupid choices?

You cannot have Free Will if these things happen by themselves.

So which is it? Either you made the choices and the consequences of your actions are for you to own...or they are the fault of you having no Free Will and the blame is on the actions themselves.

What makes more sense?

Feel free to give it your best shot and tell me how these things just happened by themselves. Tell me I am wrong, make me think FREE WILL doesn't exist...everything is preplanned...then explain to me what the heck we are doing here with our souls inhabiting a human vessel? We have no reason to exist if we have no Free Will to make choices or to learn valuable lessons about life.

I left some pictures to imagination and some I felt the need to show, MOD's, I apologize in advance if these violate T&C, I hope they do not...but I understand if changes need to be made. It was not my intention to offend anyone...only to demonstrate consequences of FREE WILL choices.

BAW33

Excellent thread, point well made
2

Say it like it is! ...gotta love that! .....well put!

I have to say in most cases we do have free will but I do believe choices we make can be 'burned' into our neural pathways and make us react on autopilot... secondly there can be "mob mentality" which can make people make choices which can be wrong but they don't know. They see other people doing it so he/she only feels % of the crowd responsible. Lastly there are choices we make because we learned some circumstance like never touch a hot stove so we don't touch it... what if someones parents we're super religious and all they learned growing up was religion? then lets say one day they read a passage that told them to kill someone if they did a certain thing. Well they would react to that given cercumstance. So I have to say not everything is free will.

Edit: I should add that there are psychopaths which could believe something is truely right in their own mind and do whatever it is without hesitation. Sometimes certain parts of their brain doesn't work so is it still free will?

its not me, its the voices in my head

Could I ask a question op. Are you religious, or believe in god?
2

And then there's the zombies... I wonder if they have free will? ...kidding!

Not sure who you've been talking to, but I've never heard anyone blame a car for a DUI, a child for child abuse, or a gun for loading itself.





Guess I just don't get the point of the thread? Sounds more like a response to someone who doesn't take responsibility for their actions. Sure, those people exist - always have, always will.

Originally posted by nyancat
I have to say in most cases we do have free will but I do believe choices we make can be 'burned' into our neural pathways and make us react on autopilot... secondly there can be "mob mentality"

I like your points, but I don't think that any of them take away free will. I am an alcoholic. I'm physically dependent.
I drink on auto pilot. I don't have to think about it, the tab clicked and half the beer gone before the door closes, and I realize fully what the rest of my night or day will consist of.

Still it is my choice to drink. It was my choice to become an alcoholic. Some paths are easier to go down. It's easier for me to keep drinking. Water flows down hill, but where water must always flow down hill, we can climb mountains. I've slept about 3 hours in as many days, but I am not going to blame the alcohol, nor can the alcohol choose to leave.

Free will is more of an aspect of the self when you step back or up one level and look at yourself. When I do this I see my programmed reactions and make plans to thwart them. The more conscious you become the more free will you will have.

And in other news…
Remember, unattended candles can kill….

So remember to keep watch over you homicidal candles!

Be afraid, be very afraid.