Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Free Will or Determinism

While reading the individual interview of Professor Lance Schaina, Mathematics at MtSAC, he states that "we definitely have free will", and that, "there's no scientific support for the idea of determined behavior in human beings". I believe this to be a case of a person taking into account only pieces of the puzzle instead of looking at how they all work together with their differences (lack of, over compensation for, moderateness) to compliment the others in the formation of a cohesive whole. So, for someone to be so adamant about one way over another is too preferential for my taste. Especially for an educated thinking person, one should know that it is an overflow of bias and ignorance to other facts, a favor of exclusivity. One should not say that something is right and another is wrong; they are just there different and similar. This is sometimes forgotten as the observer is always filled with their own bias (myself included). Therefore in their search for evidence to support their own claims they become blind to other possibilities along their path to self-fulfillment of the prophecy they have set out before them.
It is said that the very act of observing changes that which is being observed. There are atoms or particles of some sort, forgive my memory, that change their movement patterns based on the way in which they are isolated and studied. So, is it that that they behave differently or is it simply that they are both part of the manner in which they move? They are both viewed as existing, so then it would be a question of degrees.
Most things are ruled by determinism, while a select few are capable of encompassing free-will. Yes, we have the free will to do what we please, but with the adverse reactions to certain behaviors that our societal constructs lend themselves to, they act more as constraints to obtain and extract a certain amount of predictable determined behavior from its citizens. This programing from birth of "successful avenues" roads that have already been taken to predictable consequential ends is not free to me. In the case of group behavior the actions of the majority of persons are dictated and determined by their upbringing, exposure, and perception to such instances; as they have been taught to repress their free-will (self serving instincts) to consider those around them. There is also a natural occurrence as is seen in the behavior of other animals that we, ourselves, are not yet clear of, (biological determinism). We are then governed by the biological necessities, social expectations, as well as programed scientific repeatability. We are creatures of habit, and we find comfort in the known. So the most abundant place for free-will is the undiscovered. Yet, there too, we bring the limitedness of ourselves.
Lastly, nothing can every be exclusive; when there are so many variables all are in existence. That being said there is always an exception to the rule, a counter to the norm, so randomness is ever looming, a space for true free-will to exists (counter cultures in prevalence also become a norm and predictable so real facets of free-will are extremely rare). So it is always a possibility, but not likely a probability. The large numbers of variations seems to be indicative of freedom, yet variables are all determined possible outcomes, so there is nothing truly ever original or free about them.

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