A profoundly important question, do you think that we are the intenders of our intentions? Does our conscious mind actually make a decision, or is it merely informed of it?
These are difficult questions to answer, and until recently, I would have argued in favour of the existence of free will. But recently, I have been finding myself settling into the belief that free will does not in fact, exist. Sam Harris' comments on the subject, in his 'Ask Me Anything 2' video, were almost like a firmware upgrade for my brain. I'll post the video below, so I don't end up repeating his comments verbatim, but as far as I can tell, there are simply too many factors influencing the thought process for us to consciously consider, thus, the only way for our mind to make decisions is subconsciously.
(The comments on free will begin at 4:43).
Also, here is Karl Pilkington's take on the subject:
Please post any literature, videos, lectures or anything, on the subject that you are aware of.
These are difficult questions to answer, and until recently, I would have argued in favour of the existence of free will. But recently, I have been finding myself settling into the belief that free will does not in fact, exist. Sam Harris' comments on the subject, in his 'Ask Me Anything 2' video, were almost like a firmware upgrade for my brain. I'll post the video below, so I don't end up repeating his comments verbatim, but as far as I can tell, there are simply too many factors influencing the thought process for us to consciously consider, thus, the only way for our mind to make decisions is subconsciously.
(The comments on free will begin at 4:43).
Also, here is Karl Pilkington's take on the subject:
Please post any literature, videos, lectures or anything, on the subject that you are aware of.
