Free Will

[netmouse]

In the comments on yellowmouser's journal here and here I engage the question of whether or not free will is an illusion (I think not). Updated to add: J argues against me here.

What are your thoughts on the question? Is it an interesting question or purely a polemic debate?

Comments

[chowbok.livejournal.com]

The argument that free will doesn't exist always reminded me of Steven Wright's joke that somebody broke into his house and replaced everything with an exact duplicate. If we don't have free will but whatever we do have is indistinguishable from it from our perspective, what's the difference?

[atdt1991.livejournal.com]

That is essentially my opinion. If, in order to test the limits of deterministic fate, I decide to drive over the nearest bridge, and someone says that that decision was bound to happen, intended in some way, I would have to say that when Fate is indistinguishable from free will in all ways, the answer doesn't matter.

If choose to believe we all live in an insanely large zippo lighter that contains the world and everything we know - it's just too large for us to perceive it.

[chowbok.livejournal.com]

Exactly. As I understand it, Einstein essentially made that argument about luminous ether. He didn't say it didn't exist, only that if it did exist, there was no way we could ever perceive it.