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by chasd00
2750 days ago
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someone mentioned free will not existing because every decision made is the result of past decisions. Given a choice between A or B, I will only choose given who I am and therefore there was really no choice to begin with. When you're born you have no past to rely on but there sure seems to be a lot of randomness in a baby/child. Maybe randomness is free-will but it slowly erodes away with time. |
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It's a bit tricky depending on your idea of what "free will" means, but essentially it can be argued that there's a difference non-trivial difference between free will and determinism.
If the development of the Universe is predetermined, then the Universe is deterministic (in some system of logic) and free will does not exist.
If the development of the Universe depends on the the outcome of truly random events, then the universe is non-deterministic, but this does not imply that free will exists.
Consider: Someone has to decide between two choices which for all intents and purposes are exactly the same when measured against each other. On the most fundamental level, the only way to break the deadlock is through a "random" selection. If this random selection is driven by the aforementioned random (possibly quantum) events, then is this really "free will"? After all, the person making the decision has no conscious control of the events influencing the decision process on that level. This implies that decision making ("will") is just a function acting on inputs.