What Do You Think of Free Will?

[A Moment In Subtext]

Free will is the ability to make a choice on our own. While I believe that we have the ability to choice which choice we make, I doubt very much that any of us have a pure, free will. Everyone is affected by something; television, friends, books, etc. And each of these things affect our choices, sometime directly, and sometimes indirectly. But in the end, the choice is ours, and so free will prevails. But, and I don't mean to throw religion at anyone, I also believe that God knows every choice we will ever make before we make it.  

[Demoire]

What you learn are not your experiences.
What you learn, is what you choose to learn from experiences.

exclaim
Thus, freewill..

 

[LucidaOfIce]

I believe in the Karma effect. To a degree the universe proves that there are a series of random events that do take place and also, I believe that there is the good with the bad and that every action has a positive and negative reaction.  

[Reptiliac]

will the flood behind me?

I believe we're given a certain amount of free will,
But that we still follow the main road of destiny.

put out the fire inside?

 

[Big J THUG]

Free will is just the ability of choice, however it can be altered by fear.
An example if someone points a gun at u, u would normally do what he/she
says.
That is one way it can be altered.

Another is how you have been raised. In the movie "Unleashed" there is a person who is forced to do fight for someone else, however as the movie progresses he can disobey.

In conclusion free will is in fact, a matter of choice.

Its a good move i encourage u to watch it.
NOTE: It is PG-13  

[Burnt_Like_Toast]

I believe that every person has freewill. God, gave us free will so he can see who SHOULD go to heaven and who should be in hell. Though, I know it is wrong to daydream or try to comprehend what God's perspective on Free Will is, I imagine to him we have free will but he already knows what move we are going to make. I think he gave the world certain details when he made it, so they could take effect when they needed to, so in a way that's destiny. I do believe in destiny but, I also believe in free will. I believe we make our own paths, but I also believe that God makes the paths for us. I'm not saying that he makes us have a crappy life or good life, I'm saying he puts obstacles in our path to see how we overcome them.  

[bluecherry]

Seriously people, take my "don't just post opinions and run" rule seriously. This subforum is not meant to be a list of what different people think, it is meant to try to discuss things and maybe come to some actual conclusions and perhaps we could learn some stuff through our interactions. To do that, you can't just say "here's what I think" and that's it, you have to put the reasoning behind WHY you believe what you do on an issue. That way, we've got something to work with. Just saying "I think X is true" or "I think X is false" kind of things gets nowhere. So to those posting in here so far, don't just keep listing what you think, please post the supporting reasons and evidence for WHY you think those things are the case and be prepared to justify your conclusions if you're going to post them at least.

And remember, even if a thread creator may say all they want is a bunch of listed opinions, my rules for the subforum trump their aims for the thread.

 

[Iconoclast Enthusiast]

A Moment In Subtext

Free will is the ability to make a choice on our own. While I believe that we have the ability to choice which choice we make, I doubt very much that any of us have a pure, free will. Everyone is affected by something; television, friends, books, etc. And each of these things affect our choices, sometime directly, and sometimes indirectly. But in the end, the choice is ours, and so free will prevails.

I agree. We are all affected by what is around us, what our senses perceive, our personalities. However, when it comes down to it, the choice is ours.

I definitely don't believe in things like "fate" or "destiny."  

[The Winged Guardian]

free will will never exist. you think its random but its what ur brain wants u to do. its just an illusion. how would u explain premonitions (visions of the future)? i also think that life is just a long memory that were going through. i mean wouldnt the explain the time relitivity thing? i was raised on a simple idea, if u have a question and u answer it and ur answer makes u ask more questions ur on the right path. knowledge is destruction. it destroys everything and ruins everything. but its need for life. thus the paradox continues.  

[Serendipity Splendor]

The only responsible way to live your life is with free will. If you assume otherwise, although there is no proof, you are basically saying you don't have to change anything, but that life will simply play out as it was "meant" too. There's no need to reach for the stars, to try and make an impact on the world.... And also, can you imagine criminals using the excuse: "Well, I don't really make my own decisions, I was meant to do that crime!"

If you have free will it means what you do matters and is a reflection on your character.  

[Dhark Xai]

All very interesting theories and thoughts and beliefs. But no one really looked into the middle path. What I mean is that there COULD be both FREE WILL and FATE. Our fate is decided, the time doesn't change. It just depends on how you get there.

When we die, I believe, is already written down. That would be the Fate. Our paths and journeys through the hardships of life, are free will. Our chance to make an impact of who we are. To attempt to leave an impression in time, down to even the simplest of things. Ladies and gentleman, I'll take also what you've all said. Everything from Plato and to everyone's opinions, this is a great learning experience . . .  

[MyBrotherJake]

I would have to say that free will is an illusion. That's not say that everything is predetermined. For example, that particular high energy photon may have a 99 percent chance of actually hitting a particularly unfortunate region of a chromosome thus leading to skin cancer but quantum physics tells us that it is truly random and that 1 percent means that on this particular occasion the photon actually got absorbed by a nearby water molecule. The point is the future is not fixed. There is some true randomness built into the very fabric of reality. Its just, I believe, that we are part of the mechanics of it all and cannot actually have chosen different on any particular occasion. It just seems that we have free will as we generally do what we expect ourselves to do, consistent with the situation, our own understanding of our personality, dispositions etc, and the thoughts that immediately preceded the action.  

[bluecherry]

EDIT: Alright, what the hell is this? Having tried twice now, I think every time I'm posting here it is for some reason deleting the post above me. So, I'm not posting a new post here again for a little bit until this seems to resolve itself. Whoever posted before in this thread and that other one I recently posted in, feel free to repost what got deleted and I'll try to respond again later.
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Based upon what have you come to these conclusions? What even makes you believe there will necessarily be an end of the universe?