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)  

wat  

Posted by uglee

wat

this video might help you understand.

 

Dude, you just blew my mind.

I need some time to think about this...  

Just sounds like an excuse to be lazy imo

there are many people who come from very similar backgrounds yet take very different paths in life. Although the events pertaining in their lives are not identical, their background is relatively the same.

On the flip side

I remember reading a study on a selection of twins that were separated at birth to very different families, yet ending up in a similar lifestyle in terms of likes, dislikes, jobs, hobbies, etc.

So I guess in a sense I believe that a lot of our actions are biologically engineered into us before birth, however, just saying yoloscrewit, because you have no "free will", then going along and doing as you please because of this is rather, idiotic.  

Posted by Jester Lapse

Just sounds like an excuse to be lazy imo

there are many people who come from very similar backgrounds yet take very different paths in life. Although the events pertaining in their lives are not identical, their background is relatively the same.

On the flip side

I remember reading a study on a selection of twins that were separated at birth to very different families, yet ending up in a similar lifestyle in terms of likes, dislikes, jobs, hobbies, etc.

So I guess in a sense I believe that a lot of our actions are biologically engineered into us before birth, however, just saying yoloscrewit, because you have no "free will", then going along and doing as you please because of this is rather, idiotic.

Its not even just about biological things or life decisions in general, its the concept that everything is predetermined to the very actions of the neurons in your brain firing. Or that twitch you got on your left eye two weeks ago, or anything. Even you and me talking right now.

This one guy I talked to had a good point regarding the part of your post I bolded:

I generally believe in Determinism. If existence manifests in such a way that it is ultimately governed by an underlying system of any kind, then the Determinism doesn't seem avoidable.

However, I am also of the belief that Determinism by its very nature must be a purely descriptive concept; thus any attempts to use it to prescribe or justify anything is inherently fallacious. It is logically impossible for you to use it as a facet to distinguish one decision path from another. Saying that Determinism is true literally leads to no other conclusion other than itself.

It seems to me that determinism is just a very complex way of saying that **** happens.  

I'm not too crazy about this philosophy since it implies that life has no purpose other than to fulfill a predetermined task then die eventually. It means someone can be born to become a garbage man his whole life while his childhood friend can become the next Bill Gates. No choice, no free will. It's silly to believe that a murderer's only reason to kill is because he thinks he has to because it's predetermined destiny. I can guarantee you people have been sent to prisons or asylums because of that very mindset. I honestly don't agree with it because it implies there is no such thing as change or the ability to think freely. Instead, you're just another pawn lined up carrying out predetermined orders waiting to die. Which is a sullen outlook on life when you think of it. It also means that the future we hope to create isn't even in our power, or anyone's power as a matter of fact and a pitiful excuse to believe one will never accomplish anything.  

Wow.  

If you do not know what determinism is and you have passed freshman year in high school then I have no comment. There is nothing mind blowing about this and it certainly isnt an excuse to be "lazy". No one I know uses this as a YOLO thing cause really YOLO has nothing to do with this. People who use YOLO tend to mean "Well Ill do it since you only live once." Not to be lazy or just do it just because.

This argument and thread looks at all of this in the wrong way. I dont think Killers are born to be killers but are born and go through events that inspire them to kill. If you have two people live in the same conditions and the lifestyle is the same, doesnt mean that they will end up doing the same thing cause that isnt very true.  

I start high school when school starts up  

Posted by Shadowfox

I start high school when school starts up

Cool story bro.  

Says the one who took the time to write out a long ass paragraph  

I believe it exists, but it doesn't mean that you can't push the blocks away and have someone accidentally step on one to change your circumstances.

That sounds sort of evil, now that I read over it.  

Its a philosophy that runs in circles.
It's a waste of time trying to discuss or make sense of it.  

about as useful as discussing the illusion of knowledge