How do I not have free will? I can choose to do something over another option. The next time that situation arises I can choose to do what I chose not to do the time before.
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How do I not have free will? I can choose to do something over another option. The next time that situation arises I can choose to do what I chose not to do the time before.
By what mechanism do you "choose"? How does that come about? Do you believe in dualism, that your being is made up of physical material combined with some other non-physical material that provides external input to the physical system of your body? Are there any other examples in nature of natural systems which are not deterministic? As you said, you can "choose" to do something different, but isn't that choice a result of neurons firing in your brain based on inputs up to that point (including the choice you made the previous time and what impact that had on your wellbeing and the wellbeing of those you care about)?
To me, these are the fun questions worth talking about.
I have the free will to reply to comments on my posts. Sometimes while reading them I will engage comments left for me to see. Seconds later I will choose not to engage with a similar comment. I may not want to reply to your next comment.
Imagine I enjoy drinking Coke and Pepsi the same, but I can only drink one or the other at dinner. I choose to drink Coke because I had to choose something to drink, did I make a free will decision?
@steve-mcclair your Coke/Pepsi example sounds a lot like the 50/50 idea I mentioned in the original post. Incredible seemingly chaotic complexity and/or randomness may effectively be the same as non-choice. What I'm trying to tease out is where the "choice" comes from. There is some process in the brain that happens, specific neurons fire (or don't) which result in a "decision" which then leads to an action. The more we learn about these processes, the more accurately we'll be able to understand what we mean by "choice."