Do you think you have free will?

[threaded]

<<snip>>
so in evolutionary terms, it pays to believe in free will, plus you get burgled less

'Belief in ghosts' all the way through to 'seeing faces in clouds' is also an evolutionary advantage. i.e. is that a lion hiding behind the tree and I should leg it.

Doesn't make it correct.

[EternalOptimist]

Well, I agree that it pays to practice a belief in free will, but is that the same as really believing in it? In some societies it is beneficial to demonstrate a belief in God, Allah or some other deity, and in fact in some societies it’s dangerous not to demonstrate that belief. However, demonstrating belief and believing are not the same. You can pretend for your own gain or safety, while privately not believing.

I’ll still kick your head in if you try it with Lady Tester though.

it's too late. long post. nice chops. yum yum . must dash.

[EternalOptimist]

'Belief in ghosts' all the way through to 'seeing faces in clouds' is also an evolutionary advantage. i.e. is that a lion hiding behind the tree and I should leg it.

Doesn't make it correct.

the brain not working correctly might have certain advantages, but that is irrelevant for this discussion.

if free will exists, it exists despite humans, and even for blind humans

[Churchill]

Free will? Nope, I do as I'm told.

[Mich the Tester]

the brain not working correctly might have certain advantages

It certainly does on CUK.

[TimberWolf]

if free will exists, it exists despite humans, and even for blind humans

And even for a toad, bacteria, a virus, or a strand of amino acids?

To free will proponents, at what stage in animal complexity does free will emerge? In humans only?

[Mich the Tester]

And even for a toad, bacteria, a virus, or a strand of amino acids?

To free will proponents, at what stage in animal complexity does free will emerge? In humans only?

As I said earlier, you can only ever choose between alternatives of which you are aware. This looks like free will in humans, because the choices of which we are aware are so much greater than those of a bacteria or even a toad.

[TimberWolf]

As I said earlier, you can only ever choose between alternatives of which you are aware. This looks like free will in humans, because the choices of which we are aware are so much greater than those of a bacteria or even a toad.

I sometimes wonder what a toad is thinking about when it's sitting on leaf. It can't all be about flies surely?

[Churchill]

It's all pre-ordained that 9 months in the womb gives them( ) chance to plan it all.

[Mich the Tester]

I sometimes wonder what a toad is thinking about when it's sitting on leaf.

- I wish that monkey would stop farting
- I hope a fly comes past
- where's mrs toad, I fancy some rumpy pumpy,
- I hope that's rain falling on my head