RE: Hybrid theory between freewill and determinism
July 25, 2017 at 8:31 am
(This post was last modified: July 25, 2017 at 8:42 am by Rev. Rye.)
Here's my response to this: society has a habit of giving people mixed messages, including several that contradict each other (like, to use on example, virginity is very important for women, and sex is good, guys should be having lots of it). If you've ever watched/read 2001: A Space Odyssey, it appears that the phoenomenon is why HAL ended up trying to kill everyone: he couldn't reconcile two commands from mission control (Don't keep the crew in the dark and don't tell them about the mission to Jupiter until they get there).
Of course, humans have another way of dealing with it: accept one of the messages as the way things are. Here's one example: a kid spends his life in a hardscrabble existence where his family has to struggle to stay alive and there's no real guarantee that the cops won't find some reason to kill someone he knows, and it appears that the only people he knows who can keep a relatively stable existence are the local gangsters and eventually, he joins them. So, it becomes ingrained in his mind that this is how the world works: violence and crime are the way humans operate. But, of course, the society at large doesn't say that, and, perhaps circumstances change and someone kinder and more lawful holds a metaphorical carrot in front of his face and convinces him that it's a good idea to go against what he's known for years. That's what I understand free will to be.
Really, just watch Precious: I see the title character's arc as someone developing a sense of free will. Sure, a lot of her actions may be dictated by Mariah Carey's character, but we can still see enough into her mind to see that she's beginning to see through her own social conditioning. Or, indeed, the real story of Kevin Spacey, how he was raised by an abusive Neo-Nazi father, but ended up as an actor with strong philanthropic tendencies and, by all accounts, an all-around decent guy. Maybe the ability to break through requires some sort of early conditioning, but I'm saying I still consider it free will.
Of course, humans have another way of dealing with it: accept one of the messages as the way things are. Here's one example: a kid spends his life in a hardscrabble existence where his family has to struggle to stay alive and there's no real guarantee that the cops won't find some reason to kill someone he knows, and it appears that the only people he knows who can keep a relatively stable existence are the local gangsters and eventually, he joins them. So, it becomes ingrained in his mind that this is how the world works: violence and crime are the way humans operate. But, of course, the society at large doesn't say that, and, perhaps circumstances change and someone kinder and more lawful holds a metaphorical carrot in front of his face and convinces him that it's a good idea to go against what he's known for years. That's what I understand free will to be.
Really, just watch Precious: I see the title character's arc as someone developing a sense of free will. Sure, a lot of her actions may be dictated by Mariah Carey's character, but we can still see enough into her mind to see that she's beginning to see through her own social conditioning. Or, indeed, the real story of Kevin Spacey, how he was raised by an abusive Neo-Nazi father, but ended up as an actor with strong philanthropic tendencies and, by all accounts, an all-around decent guy. Maybe the ability to break through requires some sort of early conditioning, but I'm saying I still consider it free will.
Comparing the Universal Oneness of All Life to Yo Mama since 2010.
![[Image: harmlesskitchen.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/yxR97P23/harmlesskitchen.png)
I was born with the gift of laughter and a sense the world is mad.
I was born with the gift of laughter and a sense the world is mad.
