Dig Down Deep. Episode 2. Free Will and Determinism - An Implementation
I’m going to begin with saying that it would not matter if you know a lot about this topic or if you had absolutely no clue about it before today. You’ll know the reason for this as this thing unfolds. So what is free will.? I think it’s pretty self explanatory. Free will is the ability to
choose your actions freely, it’s the ability of doing what you want to do, what your will wants
you to do.
For example you’re listening to this podcast, I’m making this podcast. You are here because of
your own decisions and choices and so am I. Right? Everything you will do after this is going to be your choice, you’ll decide what you want to do and act on it, or not act on it if you want. We
as humans have this advantage over other species as we enjoy the power of having a free will, a freedom to exercise whatever we want. We with our will have build monuments, our will has the ability to change the direction of rivers, carve mountains and what not. So, basically humans can do anything and each one of us is free to do whatever he feels like, he has the power to choose and this sounds correct. It feels true somehow, whatever each one of us is
today is because of our choices which we personally made.
But, obviously there is another side of the coin, which is called determinism, now determinism
is a viewpoint which suggests that all the events that take place are determined by causes that
have existed previously. This definition of determinism challenges the existence of free will.
The most recent work to support this argument was an experiment conducted in the year 1980
by a neuroscientist named Benjamin Libet, what happened in this experiment is that he took
some subjects and wired them up to an EEG machine, which measures the activity of human
brain, and then he asked them to make a hand movement whenever they felt like and they
were made to record the time at which they decided to move the hand.
What Libet’s experiment showed was that the conscious decision of moving the hand which
felt like an immediate decision to the subjects was actually a result of brain activity several seconds before the decision of moving the hand. Now what it means is that there are subconscious, unconscious, pre decisions which leads the subjects towards making a decision.
A lot of things and factors are involved which trigger the response, that is the movement of the
hand. So the subject was led into deciding when to move his hand and his decision was not an
immediate decision or a free decision as preached by the concept of free will.
So, what determinism stands for is that free will does not exist and everything that a person is
doing is not a decision of his conscious mind, some subconscious or unconscious forces lead us
to our actions. This simply means that our actions are not under our will so free will is nothing but an illusion.
The next obvious line of questioning that comes up with all this information is that if I am not in control of the actions, if everything is predetermined and what I will do personally is already registered somewhere in my subconscious then why on earth am I held responsible for my actions. How is it my fault that I put salt instead of sugar in the tea I made yesterday. Everything is predetermined right? Why do I get the stick for doing anything then. Also, why should I do anything at all.? If it’s predetermined, it will just happen.
Now that line of thinking can be a little dangerous because it can affect the morality of a person. Thankfully Libet was able to prove with his experiments that a person might not have a
free will because his decisions are not conscious but he does have a free won’t or Veto which
suggests that the ability to say no to something which is under the control of his
consciousness.
choose your actions freely, it’s the ability of doing what you want to do, what your will wants
you to do.
For example you’re listening to this podcast, I’m making this podcast. You are here because of
your own decisions and choices and so am I. Right? Everything you will do after this is going to be your choice, you’ll decide what you want to do and act on it, or not act on it if you want. We
as humans have this advantage over other species as we enjoy the power of having a free will, a freedom to exercise whatever we want. We with our will have build monuments, our will has the ability to change the direction of rivers, carve mountains and what not. So, basically humans can do anything and each one of us is free to do whatever he feels like, he has the power to choose and this sounds correct. It feels true somehow, whatever each one of us is
today is because of our choices which we personally made.
But, obviously there is another side of the coin, which is called determinism, now determinism
is a viewpoint which suggests that all the events that take place are determined by causes that
have existed previously. This definition of determinism challenges the existence of free will.
The most recent work to support this argument was an experiment conducted in the year 1980
by a neuroscientist named Benjamin Libet, what happened in this experiment is that he took
some subjects and wired them up to an EEG machine, which measures the activity of human
brain, and then he asked them to make a hand movement whenever they felt like and they
were made to record the time at which they decided to move the hand.
What Libet’s experiment showed was that the conscious decision of moving the hand which
felt like an immediate decision to the subjects was actually a result of brain activity several seconds before the decision of moving the hand. Now what it means is that there are subconscious, unconscious, pre decisions which leads the subjects towards making a decision.
A lot of things and factors are involved which trigger the response, that is the movement of the
hand. So the subject was led into deciding when to move his hand and his decision was not an
immediate decision or a free decision as preached by the concept of free will.
So, what determinism stands for is that free will does not exist and everything that a person is
doing is not a decision of his conscious mind, some subconscious or unconscious forces lead us
to our actions. This simply means that our actions are not under our will so free will is nothing but an illusion.
The next obvious line of questioning that comes up with all this information is that if I am not in control of the actions, if everything is predetermined and what I will do personally is already registered somewhere in my subconscious then why on earth am I held responsible for my actions. How is it my fault that I put salt instead of sugar in the tea I made yesterday. Everything is predetermined right? Why do I get the stick for doing anything then. Also, why should I do anything at all.? If it’s predetermined, it will just happen.
Now that line of thinking can be a little dangerous because it can affect the morality of a person. Thankfully Libet was able to prove with his experiments that a person might not have a
free will because his decisions are not conscious but he does have a free won’t or Veto which
suggests that the ability to say no to something which is under the control of his
consciousness.
For example – If you are dieting and a friend of yours bring in some junk food to eat, now your unconscious response would probably be towards the favor of eating the junk food, you can take a break today, one burger won’t do any harm and what not. But your conscious mind will put out a big no because you know that you want to diet.
Now this response of choosing not do something which comes consciously is called veto. So,
this suggest that not all acts are necessarily triggered by the subconscious mind and you do
have some powers within the conscious mind.
So, what is the conclusion of all this? Is free will true or is determinism true? Well to be honest
the reason both of them are talked about together is because they are interlinked with each.
This concept is called compatibilism, which is the belief that free will and determinism are both compatible with each other. Now obviously this is one viewpoint and incompatibility of both of them is another concept. But I personally like the idea that free will and determinism are
interlinked and it is possible to believe in both of them and still think logically.
When we see it from the viewpoint of compatibilism it simply suggests that there is a chain of causes that leads towards a decision but between this push and the act which you do there can be a point which gives you the power to comprehend your decisions before making them.
So, it apparently gives you a way to actually practice free will, but that needs to be worked
upon. Currently your mind is limited and will is nothing but the combination of mind and
consciousness. With a limited mind the will is always going to be limited.
Your will can be free, you can make your own choices given that you have a clear mind. You
just have to make your consciousness be on the same page with your sub consciousness.
You are compelled to do certain things, and you can’t help it, the reason behind this is what
you feed your thoughts. The amount of attention a person gives to his external self is so vast,
he’ll make a chart of his diet, eat all kind of stuff to keep his body healthy, clean himself, spend
hours standing in front of the mirror, do make up and what not.
But when it comes to mind, the attention we pay is almost negligible. We know everything
about the outer world, but when it comes to the inner world, we barely know how our own
minds works. Humans take in and construct thoughts through his senses, now go back and
introspect a regular day in your life, if it starts with you waking up and opening your phones
and various applications which will give you unnecessary information about war, violence,
politics, negativity, all this stuff you will never use in your life, and then you get out of bed and
discuss about that stuff with the first person you see in the kitchen, and continue doing that at
your workplace, even when you come back you take more of that useless information while
having dinner with your family and discussing all that over and over again. If you live like that
and you say that you are the master of your thoughts, I don’t know what to say to you. I just
feel sorry for you.
If you are hungry you would not just eat anything right, you’ll check the effect it has on your body. Well, then why not do the same with your mind? Why consume anything? Why not lead your thoughts towards somewhere harmonious? Why not indulge into activities that make your mind clear, make you more aware, about things that matter, not the non sense that you are constantly consuming every day. Awareness is directly proportional to the freedom of your mind and that is how you will become the master of your own self.
Now this response of choosing not do something which comes consciously is called veto. So,
this suggest that not all acts are necessarily triggered by the subconscious mind and you do
have some powers within the conscious mind.
So, what is the conclusion of all this? Is free will true or is determinism true? Well to be honest
the reason both of them are talked about together is because they are interlinked with each.
This concept is called compatibilism, which is the belief that free will and determinism are both compatible with each other. Now obviously this is one viewpoint and incompatibility of both of them is another concept. But I personally like the idea that free will and determinism are
interlinked and it is possible to believe in both of them and still think logically.
When we see it from the viewpoint of compatibilism it simply suggests that there is a chain of causes that leads towards a decision but between this push and the act which you do there can be a point which gives you the power to comprehend your decisions before making them.
So, it apparently gives you a way to actually practice free will, but that needs to be worked
upon. Currently your mind is limited and will is nothing but the combination of mind and
consciousness. With a limited mind the will is always going to be limited.
Your will can be free, you can make your own choices given that you have a clear mind. You
just have to make your consciousness be on the same page with your sub consciousness.
You are compelled to do certain things, and you can’t help it, the reason behind this is what
you feed your thoughts. The amount of attention a person gives to his external self is so vast,
he’ll make a chart of his diet, eat all kind of stuff to keep his body healthy, clean himself, spend
hours standing in front of the mirror, do make up and what not.
But when it comes to mind, the attention we pay is almost negligible. We know everything
about the outer world, but when it comes to the inner world, we barely know how our own
minds works. Humans take in and construct thoughts through his senses, now go back and
introspect a regular day in your life, if it starts with you waking up and opening your phones
and various applications which will give you unnecessary information about war, violence,
politics, negativity, all this stuff you will never use in your life, and then you get out of bed and
discuss about that stuff with the first person you see in the kitchen, and continue doing that at
your workplace, even when you come back you take more of that useless information while
having dinner with your family and discussing all that over and over again. If you live like that
and you say that you are the master of your thoughts, I don’t know what to say to you. I just
feel sorry for you.
If you are hungry you would not just eat anything right, you’ll check the effect it has on your body. Well, then why not do the same with your mind? Why consume anything? Why not lead your thoughts towards somewhere harmonious? Why not indulge into activities that make your mind clear, make you more aware, about things that matter, not the non sense that you are constantly consuming every day. Awareness is directly proportional to the freedom of your mind and that is how you will become the master of your own self.
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