Talk Among The Stars [2014 original with AI background]
Did you choose what you had to eat today, or was the menu predetermined by a massive set of details that gave you no real choice at all? Control freaks hate this conversation. A lot of people with strong religious feelings dislike this conversation. Much of Western Civilization was built around the concept of Free Will. However, the more we know about the universe, physiology, psychology, biology, and every other aspect of humanity, the less likely it seems that we have any control over anything at all.
Control is an illusion
What I find pseudo-entertaining about this discussion is that some of the people who will argue for Free Will the hardest are, in reality, those most guilty of destroying it. Religions that go hard on childhood religious education are providing exactly the type of causation that, at later ages, takes away the choice of what we’re going to do, how we’re going to act, and where we’re going to go, thereby eliminating Free Will. Education is one of the most significant elements in shaping how our minds develop. Causation comes as we’re “hard-wired” to respond to certain situations in certain ways.
For example, how do you respond when someone sneezes? For a lot of people, the “God bless you” they immediately utter isn’t even a thought: it just happens. There’s no question in your mind, “Am I going to say god bless you?” The phrase just comes out.
Ultimately, this is a question that requires minds a great deal more intelligent than you or I. That’s why I was excited when I found this episode of StarTalk that explores the subject of Free Will from both sides intellectually without an undue emotional or religious attachment. Please watch and then tell me in the comment section below what you think.
Does free will exist? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice sit down with astrophysicist Charles Liu sit down to discuss the existence of free will and whether physics allows for choice in our lives. We explore cause and effect: how does uncertainty and chaos in the universe factor into free will? How important is the illusion of free will to society? What does a society that acknowledges a lack of free will look like?
Did you choose what you had to eat today, or was the menu predetermined by a massive set of details that gave you no real choice at all? Control freaks hate this conversation. A lot of people with strong religious feelings dislike this conversation. Much of Western Civilization was built around the concept of Free Will. However, the more we know about the universe, physiology, psychology, biology, and every other aspect of humanity, the less likely it seems that we have any control over anything at all.
Control is an illusion
What I find pseudo-entertaining about this discussion is that some of the people who will argue for Free Will the hardest are, in reality, those most guilty of destroying it. Religions that go hard on childhood religious education are providing exactly the type of causation that, at later ages, takes away the choice of what we’re going to do, how we’re going to act, and where we’re going to go, thereby eliminating Free Will. Education is one of the most significant elements in shaping how our minds develop. Causation comes as we’re “hard-wired” to respond to certain situations in certain ways.
For example, how do you respond when someone sneezes? For a lot of people, the “God bless you” they immediately utter isn’t even a thought: it just happens. There’s no question in your mind, “Am I going to say god bless you?” The phrase just comes out.
Ultimately, this is a question that requires minds a great deal more intelligent than you or I. That’s why I was excited when I found this episode of StarTalk that explores the subject of Free Will from both sides intellectually without an undue emotional or religious attachment. Please watch and then tell me in the comment section below what you think.
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