(December 15, 2014 at 6:33 am)robvalue Wrote: Me too, I used to be a determinist. I came to that conclusion before doing any research in detail, before even knowing there was a term for what I thought.
I hadn't heard of quantum randomness. I'm not going to even pretend I understand it either. But I trust that it's a well established theory. Putting all my knowledge and logic together at this point leads me to believe that this randomness is all that determines choices. So if you want to call that a choice, then you can say there is free will. Otherwise, we're just observers to the universe fucking with us.
I do always have my suspicions that the term "random" is a placeholder for "we haven't figured out the pattern yet".
It absolutely could be. Moreover, there could be no pattern from our perspective, but a part of the universe might be hidden from view, such that apparent randomness arises even though the system as a whole may be deterministic.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition