but on a more basic level consciousness itself is a good indicator that free will exists, there would be no point in our conscious experience if we were on predetermined paths.
there is no evidence that consciousness exists either.
That being said, I'm 99.9% certain we're tethered to a future where godlike AI exists, and that nothing can stop it from existing, you can choose any of infinite paths that all lead to the same thing
That would be the end of the universe. highly unlikely.
This is a meaningless statement. Of course consciousness exists because otherwise what are you going to call all of this happening around you that you're experiencing?
"Consciousness" is the state of being conscious. If you want to say there's no such thing as consciousness then where does that get us? Because we still know very well that there's a difference between a rock and a human, when we're asleep and when we're awake. If there's no such thing as consciousness, then there must not be an unconscious. We know very well that just we're only consciously aware of a fraction of what "we" are actually "doing".
We don't have to think about growing our own hairs or beating our own heart or the inner workings of our brain synapses. All that's taken care of, so much so that we don't like to think too hard about how much credit we should give ourselves for it. We find that quite unsettling because obviously if it's something we're doing then we're responsible for it, but then we can't bring ourselves to say that either because all the unconscious processes within our body seems just as much happening to us as anything else. We start to wonder about what extent we're really in control of our own thoughts and actions, and where to draw the line between what we will say is us compared to what we consider to be not ourselves.
The point is you're just playing with words. Use whatever words you like however you like but the reality hasn't changed.
If you want to say that consciousness doesn't exist then you need to explain how you plan on describing the same phenomena. Now, I would say you're half right, except that the reality isn't that there's no such thing as consciousness but that everything is conscious just to different degrees. So we're an extremely complex pattern of vibrations, just the same as a metal gong vibrates when you hit it. Now don't misunderstand me here, I'm not saying everything's alive and that rocks can think. What I'm saying that it's a very basic simple form of consciousness. If you don't see it this way then you're forced to believe there's some special point at which this dead lifeless matter like a rock becomes alive and conscious like ourselves. I'm not trying to make words fit reality I'm trying to use words to best describe reality, and that's a very big difference.
Alan Watts: Determinism & Free Will - 32min
Alan Watts - Living in the present (boat analogy) - 5min56s
electrical simulation that renders a given perceived reality. all living things have it.
and water is wet. you are not saying anything.
Much of what happens and you perceive as free-will is like the inevitability of growing hair. For example the older you get the less sex libido you get thus your choices about copulation change.
now. you are free to brainstorm in how many other thousand ways your choices are not yours just by looking at your own body that is slowly changing either by time or the environment around you
I'm confused it's like you didn't read my comment.
Did you stop reading as soon as you got to the first few lines?
So what do you define as sleep if sleep isn't a state where one is not conscious ?
You're also setting up a difference between living things and dead things but you don't want to call that difference consciousness. You've not changed anything you've just lost a word to describe a difference. You're just playing a self defeating language game
.>and water is wet.
We say water is wet to describe the contrasting experience to what we call dry. Are you saying that water isn't wet? That there's no such thing as wetness and dryness?
"Conscious" and "unconscious "describe contrast. You get rid of the word and you still have the contrast you just don't have a word for it now.
random imagery going through your mind. The brain is unloading in order to be able to store new info.
Why should I? You are in need for calling it even though you really have no idea what it means. There is no universal definition of consciousness you know. So, when you stumble upon these kind of "vague" words instead of adopting them try to question their origin and nature.
Not really. I told you. You just don't want to accept it. All life has electrical signal stimulation going on in its physiology. A rock doesn't. You want a word for that? Sorry. definitions speak louder than abstract words.
I was being ironic to you previous statement.
electrically stimulated vs not electrically stimulated
I think people really resist the notion of free will being a myth because they think:
I don't believe in free will but I still believe in trying hard, setting goals and getting at life.
https://steemit.com/philosophy/@edb1984/re-kyriacos-re-alphacore-re-kyriacos-there-is-no-such-thing-as-free-will-2017617t13342608z-20170617t235642340z
Nicely written post. I will be checking out Alan Watts. Of my own FREE WILL
Really?
provide evidence
That probably requires a whole essay. To me it's self evident that I exist and that I can differentiate myself from the rest of reality (or what I perceive to be reality). Can I prove to anyone else that I am real...that is another argument altogether without going into a solipsist line of reasoning.
He's playing a language game. He's doesn't actually know what he means.
all life knows that it exists due to the fact that anything alive communicated within itself with electrical signals.
Being aware of one's existence is pretty much the definition of consciousness.
so all life is conscious?
is a virus conscious that gets activated when it touched another cell after being dormant for months?
if not, why not?
Is a virus alive? That is up for debate. It's probably a bad example. A better question would be what is consciesness? In fact since you stated that "there is no evidence that consciousness exists either" a better starting point would have been to ask you what is consciousness to you to make sure that we are referring to the same concept.