Illusion. "Choice" is a funny word, I think the primary force keeping the free will debate alive is foggy semantics.
We makes choices, sure, but we will only make the choices we've been conditioned to make, choices our biology will allow us to make, choices that our environment and experience have encouraged us to make. The brain is a learning and problem solving machine. We're born and we begin testing the world, we touch hot surfaces, stick our tongues on cold poles, touch the stove burner, talk back to our parents, wipe out on our skateboards, play video games, watch movies, lie to people, make poor financial decisions, smoke weird drugs, break speed limits, and gauge everybody's reaction to everything we do. All of that incoming data, filtered through our biology, determines how we act, our temperament, our restraint, our cleverness, our inclination to take risks, our intuition, our taste in music, film, and culture, and whatever else we consider typical human behavior and thoughts.
Any time we are presented with a choice to make (AKA every living second), our brain remembers past results, considers the current situation and the possible outcomes, does some weird math, and makes an informed decision that may or may not be a good one. Every single choice we make can be traced back to a series of events that informed us to act this way, or how to answer a certain question.
It feels like we're making choices, and we are, but the choices aren't decided by "we", our whole biological system makes the choice, we don't control our bodies like a mech pilot. Our mind is shaped by the experience of our body and will only behave in ways that the body has taught it, and the body is taught by the rest of the systems surrounding us. Every body is reacting to everything else, and everything else is reacting to everything else. I had chicken noodle soup for breakfast this morning because the dinosaurs suffered a mass extinction. The dinosaurs suffered a mass extinction because the Earth formed in this particular corner of the galaxy. The galaxy formed over here because some **** happened over there.
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Originally Posted by Bobbycob
There's 3 reason why the Rolling Stones are better. I'm going to list them here. 1. Jimi Hendrix from Rolling Stones was a better guitarist then Jimmy Page 2. The bassist from Rolling Stones isn't dead 3. Rolling Stobes wrote Stairway to Heaven and The Ocean so we all know they are superior here.
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