Quote:
Originally Posted by Bronze Medal
There are three scenarios in this question of free-will.
1. God. If there is an omniscient and omnipotent god, than at the point in which he created the universe he already knew what choices we were going to make so he effectively made our choices for us. In his perspective the future has already happened, he lives outside of time, so when he created the universe he created the universe's past present and future in the same moment.
No Free Will.
2. Determinism. The laws of physics are absolute. All causes have one effect and one effect only. The future has only one possible outcome because there is no such thing as randomness. Our bodies are made of atoms and are wholey subject to the laws of physics. So we have no more choice than a rock has a choice to fall in a parabola.
No Free Will.
3. Quantum. Quantum theory suggest (they haven't really proven anything yet) that there is a such thing as randomness on the sub-atomic level. That to a small degree there are no cause and effect absolutes. There are two ways to debunk that this signifies free will.
A. Randomness does not constitute as 'free will' anyway, If all your choices were 100% based on flipping a coin, what 'choice' do you have?
No Free Will
B. Randomness dissipates at the atomic level and above. Even if there is randomness at that level, it doesn't change anything at the level we exist on. The laws of physics (and Determinism) is completely uneffected by any randomness that may exist on the quantum level.
No Free Will
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I have a good friend who is a determinist by belief and he's educated me and encouraged me to read up on such philosophies. The ironic thing about determinisim is that it produces a major self-paradox--which this friend of mine actually informed me of. Determinism suggests that everything we do and everything we will do, say, think etc. is pre-
determined and is influenced by previous events from a pre-determined timeline. It negates free will in that
everything is said to be "determined" or "pre-determined." However, for "everything" to be determined, the actual reality of determinism itself (for those who would believe in it) must also have have been "pre-determined" by that belief system, which is paradoxical, suggesting no genesis or beginning to this theory or belief system. It produces a sort of bizarre illogical loop that by the standards of determinism state that determinism itself was "pre-determined" making it an unreliable and sketchy theory at best.
As for quantum, it's a fascinating area, but like you said, there's nothing that's been achieved on an evidentiary standard thus far to solidify it as a theory--or rather this confirms why theories themselves can't ever really be considered "fact."
Personally, I believe in free-will. I see no other reasonable explanation for why we do what we do. I also believe in God. I believe God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent, but I do not believe he created our choices for us. Of course this leaves some explaining, and I've tried for hours with some good friends to theorize how he could be omnipresent, yet leave our choices up to us--it's an ongoing process and mind boggling at times, but it's intriguing all the same to think about.
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