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sqt246 t1_j8oarzk wrote

Reply to comment by wanderer1999 in [Image] The world will ask you who you are, and if you don't know, the world will tell you. by crm_expert

It’s not an invisible force. It’s a series of logic gates. You like some shit and don’t like other shit and then make decisions to get more of what you like and less of what you don’t. Humans are basic and simple. They just like to pretend it’s complicated.

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keeldude t1_j8ok84l wrote

If you keep drilling down on the why you have certain preferences, at the very beginning of the causal chain of events, it is unlikely that choosing to do that thing or preferring that thing was the beginning of it. Evolution, nature/nurture, biology, chemistry, biophysics etc are slowly chipping away at the facade of free will. You do still own your actions because you exist physically in this universe and in your body. But without a supernatural component to the brain (which is totally fine and good to believe in, and I think it's valid and human to have opinions that can't be proved) free will in the truest sense is very unlikely. But this line of reasoning is perhaps an academic and philosophical argument which probably ought not to be inserted into your daily decision tree.

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sqt246 t1_j8pgr4l wrote

A lot of it boils down to pretty basic preferences of avoiding pain and seeking pleasure tbh. We’re just animals that pretend like they invented thinking.

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nunsaymoo t1_j8pf7g3 wrote

That's basically the correct answer. I just watched that YouTube video and was unimpressed with the xNTP philosophical debate-just-for-the-sake-of-debate bullshit.

The bottom line is that you can spend all day thinking about what you want for dinner, but ultimately, whatever you have is what it is. Maybe you coulda, woulda, shoulda chosen something else in an alternate universe, but not this one.

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