It's my birthday, so I'm posting a video made by a redhead.
Actually, a friend had me watch it and answer a couple of questions: 1. Do you believe in the existence of free will?, and 2. If not, do you think it's good for people to believe in it? I think it's a little intriguing something to post on the blog...
I've been trying to churn through "The Selfish Gene" in my 'spare time,' and it's changed the way I look at things. Experience from the college campus has shown be how driven by hormones and genes college kids are generally, and every person has this expected set of actions ('personality,' although I think there's a number of people on this campus who have none...). It's an action thing - I programmed myself to start working out and eating healthier, and voila. I did, but I did so because the weight was affecting my health and self image negatively. I agree with her - we have the imaginary notion of free will, but it doesn't actually technically exist. At least, not the way religion claims it does. Things are too tied down to internal and external pressures, and our social and environmental nets as humans are so complex that it's easy to see how something like free will could be expected, but it's not actually there.
I don't think it's good to believe in free will, but that's because I'm an idealist. If we understood why and how we operate, we'd better be able to assess each other's actions and figure out why we're acting erratically or how we can improve our condition. Of course, here enters the argument that "all human blood runs red," and we'd much sooner find rapists being cut loose because their genes made them do it. Maybe their genes did make them do it. But if we know to look for it and catch it early enough, that kind of crime may never have had happened.
In conclusion - no, I do not believe in the existence in free will as anything but an imaginary construct created by the incomprehensibility of the entirety of our surrounding factors, and yes, I think knowing we're predisposed to certain expected behaviors would benefit us as a society and a species, although there would initially be some some pretty nasty debates.
Actually, a friend had me watch it and answer a couple of questions: 1. Do you believe in the existence of free will?, and 2. If not, do you think it's good for people to believe in it? I think it's a little intriguing something to post on the blog...
I've been trying to churn through "The Selfish Gene" in my 'spare time,' and it's changed the way I look at things. Experience from the college campus has shown be how driven by hormones and genes college kids are generally, and every person has this expected set of actions ('personality,' although I think there's a number of people on this campus who have none...). It's an action thing - I programmed myself to start working out and eating healthier, and voila. I did, but I did so because the weight was affecting my health and self image negatively. I agree with her - we have the imaginary notion of free will, but it doesn't actually technically exist. At least, not the way religion claims it does. Things are too tied down to internal and external pressures, and our social and environmental nets as humans are so complex that it's easy to see how something like free will could be expected, but it's not actually there.
I don't think it's good to believe in free will, but that's because I'm an idealist. If we understood why and how we operate, we'd better be able to assess each other's actions and figure out why we're acting erratically or how we can improve our condition. Of course, here enters the argument that "all human blood runs red," and we'd much sooner find rapists being cut loose because their genes made them do it. Maybe their genes did make them do it. But if we know to look for it and catch it early enough, that kind of crime may never have had happened.
In conclusion - no, I do not believe in the existence in free will as anything but an imaginary construct created by the incomprehensibility of the entirety of our surrounding factors, and yes, I think knowing we're predisposed to certain expected behaviors would benefit us as a society and a species, although there would initially be some some pretty nasty debates.
Leave a comment