CogBlog

Heard an interesting quote today -- forgot the source, but goes like this.

"When asked if I believe in free will, I feel I have no choice but to answer, 'yes'."

Thoughts?

I believe that we all possess free will and can overcome some aspects of our existence, but that we are really still creatures of nature. I think that is hard for us to overcome our genetic make-up and the way we have been raised to react to situations. Free will can be defined as the ability to decide what we do despite outside influences. I believe that people like to think we have more free will than we actualy do because people are very predictable. If people like to think of themselves as not predictable, this makes them predictable. If person A always does what you don't expect, then you begin to expect what most would not do. If we have known the person for awhile (i.e. your mother, father, or child) we should be able to pretty accurately guess what the person is predisposed to do. I think free will and determinism play a role in our lives. We like to feel the control of "free will", but determinism explains how others can accurately predict our course of actions when responding to a stimulus. In short, I agree with Ben. I believe that people have this illusion of free will, but really if a person knows the other person's life experiences, temperment, and genetic make-up it is rather easy to predict what that person will do.

I think that a basic misunderstanding is occurring in our conceptualization of free will. So far, the main "evidence" of free will that has been put forth is the notion that, because we are able to act unpredictably by our own conscious decisions, this means we have free will. However, I feel that this defense neglects the larger picture of the self as an entity in constant reaction to the influences surrounding it. Just because we can choose to act spontaneously/randomly/unpredictably, this says nothing about whether or not we have free will. The issue is whether or not consciousness is the executive behind our decisions, because if it is not, then we cannot justify free will. Since I believe that our conscious self is not aware of all its influences, I therefore do not believe in free will.

I do believe that we all possess the free will to defy our genetic and environmental predispositions, but I also believe that we have less free will than we would like to think. EEG studies of long-term potentiation suggest that decisions are actually made in the brain tissue before we are consciously aware of them. In one study, subjects were asked to move either their right or left hands. The EEG showed that the decision in the brain before the subjects were consciously aware of their choice.

Similarly, a usually productive, law-abiding citizen brutally murdered his young daughter. After discovering that he had a large tumor exerting pressure on his amygdala, which inhibits aggression, he was acquitted for reasons of insanity. Because of his temporary brain abnormality, he lost free will and control over his actions. These cases suggest that free will is more illusory than we would like to believe.

I do believe that we all possess free will to defy our genetic and environmental predispositions, but I also believe that we have less free will than we would like to think. EEG studies of long-term potentiation suggest that conscious knowledge of a decision actually occurs after the decision was made in the brain. In one study, subjects were asked to move either their right of left hands. Their brain activity showed the decision before they were consciously aware of what decision they had made.

Similarly, a usually productive, law-abiding man brutally murdered his daughter. After discovering that he had a large tumor exerting pressure on his amygdala, which inhibits aggression, he was acquitted for reasons of insanity. Because of his temporary brain disorder, he lost free will over his actions. These findings really challenge our ideas of free will.

Free will is like consciousness, it can't be thought of and superficially understood, but never fully defined by those who possess it. I think that human beings have free will despite the fact that human behavior is predictable because even if all the variables affecting human behavior could be predicted one still has the ability to defy those predictions at any time. However, for most people the predicted behavior is what has worked in the past and deviating from the set pattern would mean uncertainty and possibly danger. Even if one knew all the variables and used statistics to calculate someone's behavior, there would still be some sort of deviation from the predicted result in real life. Is this deviation free will? I'm not sure, but I think it's as close as we will be able to comprehend for now.

I think that being predictable is different from being determined. I think there is little doubt that genetics, experiences, etc. do make certain behaviors and choices more LIKELY to happen. But I don't think this necessarily means that we have no free will to make our own choices. When we make a choice, it is possible that we could have made the opposite choice--usually, there is nothing restraining us but our will to make a different choice. At least, this is how we perceive it.

However, one important factor in this debate is whether the mind exists as something that is different from the body. If we believe that the brain is only physical matter, then we might believe that every choice or action is a result of chemical reactions in the brain; therefore, we might not really be free. Or, more technically I suppose, if every atom in the brain follows the laws of physics and thus controls our actions, then behavior can be calculated and predicted mathematically. However, if our mind is made of something else that is not exactly the same as the physical brain, and our will is part of this mind, perhaps we can manipulate those atoms and chemicals by making choices. It's hard to say whether what happens in our brains controls our actions, or whether our decisions control what happens in our brains.

I agree that we are much more predictable than we would like to think, however i do not think that predictability is necessarily the opposite of free will. We have free will because we can choose to do a different action than what is predicted of us for no other reason than to be unpredictable. in connection with the topic in class of phobias, a person with a phobia can be easily predicted to react to the focus of their phobia, but people also overcome phobias all the time. This goes against predictability and I beleive it is an act of free will. Also, being predictable can also be a choice of free will. People often act without thinking because it is second nature, and thus predictable. Sometimes though people do consciously decide to perform their predictable behaviors after considering other options that would be less predictable. This allows predictable actions to still often involve some element of free will.

I feel that, like Ben said, we live with the illusion of free will. While we are currently unable to determine the exact actions that someone might take, had we known all of the possible variables and all past behavior we could determine exactly what that person would do in any given situation. To take an analogy from class, while we can determine the weather to a certain degree we still cannot predict exactly what will happen, however if we understood all of the variables the weather could be turned into a complex equation. While I doubt we will every have human behavior down to one complex equation, I feel that we are much more predictable that humans like to think.

I think one of the characteristics that separates humans from animals is our free will. Animals are bound to their instincual behavior and animalistic impulses; therefore we can predict their behavior, with minimal variation. Humans also have basic instincts as well but our free will allows us to make the choice of continuing our patterns or breaking them; where as an animal is constrained by their inherent tendencies and cannot reason out different alternatives to a given situation.
- sorry to post twice, but I didn't write my name in

I personally think both free will and determinism exist. I think that if they did not both exist then we would be living in a world unlike the one we live in now. The people who are predictable are the ones who keep society stable; whereas, those who follow free will add excitement and help lead to change and progress. If free will did not exist, we would never hear stories about people running away from home to pursue their dreams and things of the like. I think that since things like this do happen, then free will must exist.

Since free will is the illusion created by our inability to understand every factor which influences our decisions, we are currently able to enjoy what we call "free will" while being driven by influences we do not fully recognize. When we say that a person acts predictably, we are saying that they are acting in a manner that falls in line with what our knowledge about that person suggests; If we were to know the cumulative life history of the person (every interaction throughout their whole life at every scale level), we would be able to correctly predict their behavior. However, for the person in question, unless they can consciously calculate these factors, they will not be able to recognize their actions as being driven by the myriad interactions that have occurred in their life, and this allows for the perception of free will.