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Pimpsy G. · 07-06-2013

Me and my brother just got in a long debate about this. He believes in determinism, or as Wikipedia says a philosophical position stating that for everything that happens there are conditions such that, given those conditions, nothing else could happen. Or in other words, if you dropped some legos on the ground, you could recreate the way that the legos fell perfectly in an advanced enough computer simulation. To put it very simply, determinism is cause and effect.

Basically, he is taking this concept and saying that a serial killer could not help but killing people because he was thrown into these conditions from the moment the universe was created. The whole universe, including the serial killer's actions, could be predicted if given a complicated enough computer simulation. His actions are chained to prior events. Therefore, you do not have any choice in life. You are just like one of those legos.

I agree with his idea, I agree that determinism is absolutely real and that humans do not have free will because of it. Although, I believe that determinism does not matter at all. If you could show me what crime I was going to do in the future predicted by some complex program, I wouldn't do it because I now know what choices I was going to make. There is no way to tell me my future without changing it.The only reason determinism will ever matter to anyone is if they are looking at life with a negative mindset, and are trying to convince themselves that their choices don't matter.

What is your stance on determinism? Do humans have free will? Can we actually make our own choices? Or is this all predetermined?

TL;DR? WHACH THIS VIDEO:
Free Will - Waking Life (2001)
OR READ THIS COMIC:

http://www.qwantz.com/comics/comic2-897.png (Unsupported image host)

07-06-2013	1
Pimpsy G. Professional Burger Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: McDonalds Posts: 2,564	Determinism Me and my brother just got in a long debate about this. He believes in determinism, or as Wikipedia says a philosophical position stating that for everything that happens there are conditions such that, given those conditions, nothing else could happen. Or in other words, if you dropped some legos on the ground, you could recreate the way that the legos fell perfectly in an advanced enough computer simulation. To put it very simply, determinism is cause and effect. Basically, he is taking this concept and saying that a serial killer could not help but killing people because he was thrown into these conditions from the moment the universe was created. The whole universe, including the serial killer's actions, could be predicted if given a complicated enough computer simulation. His actions are chained to prior events. Therefore, you do not have any choice in life. You are just like one of those legos. I agree with his idea, I agree that determinism is absolutely real and that humans do not have free will because of it. Although, I believe that determinism does not matter at all. If you could show me what crime I was going to do in the future predicted by some complex program, I wouldn't do it because I now know what choices I was going to make. There is no way to tell me my future without changing it.The only reason determinism will ever matter to anyone is if they are looking at life with a negative mindset, and are trying to convince themselves that their choices don't matter. What is your stance on determinism? Do humans have free will? Can we actually make our own choices? Or is this all predetermined? TL;DR? WHACH THIS VIDEO: Free Will - Waking Life (2001) OR READ THIS COMIC: http://www.qwantz.com/comics/comic2-897.png (Unsupported image host) Last edited by Pimpsy G.; 07-06-2013 at 06:16 AM.