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Old 12-12-2005, 04:07 PM
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Default Re: Two personal beliefs and their consequences

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Can you actually? Think about it for a minute. Can you do anything other than what you actually do? What gives you that ability?

We are no different from highly complicated computers / animals.

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Think about it for a minute? Is that an argument? Am I supposed to 'think about' whether I'm really choosing to move my arm in a certain direction, and from that realize that I'm not? Why? I don't get it.

How about this--you tell me before my arm moves which way it will move--up or down. Now, since I have no say in the matter, you should miss on your prediction about half the time. But I think you will find, amazingly, that you are 100% accurate in your predictions. How could that be if I have no choice in which way my arm moves?

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You must be purposely trying to not understand what I am saying. I have no doubt the ILLUSION of free will is present. I certainly APPEAR to make choices every day. You APPEAR to choose which way to move your arm. My problem is that you do not actually CHOOSE in the strictest sense (that is, being able to move it one way or the other).

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I understand perfectly what you're saying--I know what it means to believe that we do not have free will. I just haven't seen you give any reason for believing it, and when you said 'think about it' it seems to me that thinking about whether or not I can freely choose to move my arm in a certain direction makes it seem very much like I do have free will--as in, "look, I'll move it this way, now this way," etc. So, I don't understand what 'think about it' was supposed to show me. Can you give me a reason for believing that we do not have free will then?
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