Is free will a myth?

[Teeqoz]

RolStoppable said:

Teeqoz said:

If I ask you what 2+2 is, I'm actually pretty confident your brain will think 4 automatically, without you conciously wanting it to (but I doubt you'd mind either. It just happens). And that talk about physics makes sense, because it's true. You just wave it off by saying it doesn't make much sense, but explain to me, why doesn't it make much sense? What is incorrect about it? Nothing. It's the way it works.

 

I make it sound like we don't have a say as to what our brains do, because we don't. Stimuli and external factors trigger chemical reactions in your brain, and you have no say as to what the result of that reaction is. It just follows the laws of physics. Unless you do believe there is something about your brain that doesn't follow the laws of physics, then you in reality agree with me. You just refuse to admit it, to both yourself and to me.

You are right, it just happens and I don't mind. My heart beats automatically too and I don't mind that either. What you didn't address is the choice of behavior which is the definition you have provided for free will. The more this discussion is going on, the more it looks like you didn't provide the correct definition for what you are talking about. You are right that brain activity is triggered and that there's no control over the chemical reactions, but where does that leave the ability to choose your behavior? It has yet to be addressed.

Let's try this: If women knew what men think, we all would be dead already. But we aren't, because we choose a behavior that masks what's going on in our brains. While we do not have control over what's going on in our brains (other than feeding it with chosen stimuli), we do have control over the output (language). We act in a way that saves our lives. Since women essentially force us to behave like this, we actually do not have a choice. So... there is no such thing as free will... for men.

Okay, hold on a second. Forget the previous paragraph.

You have to address why the output after the brain activity happened apparently does not matter when it comes to the choice of behavior, even though the output (what a person does or says) is the behavior.

Let me ask you one simple question: Do you believe that you can decide the outcome of the chemical reactions in your brain?

 

If your answer to the above is no, then you don't believe in free will. If your anwser to the above is yes, then you do believe in free will, and you also believe that our mind breaks the laws of physics.

The output after the activity has happened is a result of the activity. They aren't two separate things. The output is controlled through chemical reactions that are triggered by the result if the initial chemical reaction (brain activity), which in turn was triggered by a load of various stimuli. After the brain activity has happened, you don't then choose to perform it. The brain activity is the (illusion of) choice, and the output is a direct result of that "choice".

 

But really, I just want to see your answer to the question.

 

(I mean, how can you first say we don't have control of what's going on in our brains, but the say we have a choice about the output? The process of "creating" the output goes on IN our brains haha. The process of formulating words is also just a bunch of chemical reactions in your brain, with which you have no say in what the result is).