this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2023
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Well let's start by examining the phrase "free will"
The term free has at least two different meanings in common language.
A) free as in beer ( free from cost) B) free as in speach (free from control)
Both of these could be broken down more (e.g. Monetary cost, entropic costs, mental cost and societal control, individual control, physical control... Etc)
Now, "will" is a bit more tricky. In this context we generally use it to mean "choice" However desire, and intention also get mentioned in the definitions.
When commonly discussed I would say people tend to talk about B3(the ability to choose without external physical control)
I would argue 3 requires 2 which requires 1
So now we discuss B1 - are we free to pick our desires.
This I find to be interesting. We often see people desiring things which seem foolish. Foolish as is Unwise. What makes something foolish? Seems to me foolishness is caused by a lack of data and poor modeling.
At this point my phone battery is at 6% So I'll cut my response short. I see no truly free will. I think our desires can be shaped over time via our input (previous choices) however we can't roll a die and pick our desires.
I don't think this is a bad thing. Just maybe not ideal but what is in this world?