If we accept that humans are just like any other animal, and we cannot act outside the parameters of "human nature" (yes I know broad and varied term); how much free will do we really have?
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Free will?
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 (February 10, 2014 at 12:06 am)BrokenQuill92 Wrote: If we accept that humans are just like any other animal, and we cannot act outside the parameters of "human nature" (yes I know broad and varied term); how much free will do we really have? None at all. There's no evidence that qualia are associated with anything other than brain electrochemical states and no evidence that chemistry is governed by other than deterministic mechanisms. But as a compatibilist I don't worry about it. We think we have free will and that's all that counts.
So how, exactly, does God know that She's NOT a brain in a vat?
I don't really know how much free will we really have, between instincts, government, cultural norms, and whatever else guides our lives. We do think individually. Stereotypes and generalizations don't generally work because there will always be people that break the mold. We aren't a hive mind, or special snowflakes.
Poe's Law: "Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing."
10 Christ-like figures that predate Jesus. Link shortened to Chris ate Jesus for some reason... http://listverse.com/2009/04/13/10-chris...ate-jesus/ Good video to watch, if you want to know how common the Jesus story really is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88GTUXvp-50 A list of biblical contradictions from the infallible word of Yahweh. http://infidels.org/library/modern/jim_m...tions.html 
Does the answer to this question really change anything? Not that it's not cool to ponder it, but I think i'd really prefer not to know...
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
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What a shame to learn we never had this thing called free will which we ourselves invented. Oh well, I suppose we can take solace in life as we've known it continuing just the same, completely unaffected by the categories we invent.
I have free will. I just chose to lift up the toilet seat before I peed.
Stop trying to impress the ladies.
"Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken." Sith code (February 10, 2014 at 2:06 am)whateverist Wrote: What a shame to learn we never had this thing called free will which we ourselves invented. Oh well, I suppose we can take solace in life as we've known it continuing just the same, completely unaffected by the categories we invent. But that makes us feel less special. 
Poe's Law: "Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing."
10 Christ-like figures that predate Jesus. Link shortened to Chris ate Jesus for some reason... http://listverse.com/2009/04/13/10-chris...ate-jesus/ Good video to watch, if you want to know how common the Jesus story really is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88GTUXvp-50 A list of biblical contradictions from the infallible word of Yahweh. http://infidels.org/library/modern/jim_m...tions.html  RE: Free will?
February 10, 2014 at 9:22 am
(This post was last modified: February 10, 2014 at 9:23 am by Sword of Christ.)
You would have none at all you would have various chemical processes synapses and neurons firing away in response to physical and environmental stimuli which would determine everything you ever think or do. I'm not sure what the appeal of this belief is though, why would anyone in their right mind decide that they have no freewill? You're deciding that you can't decide anything!
Come all ye faithful joyful and triumphant.
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