Irascible Doughnut

I don't have a free will, and frankly, I don't care because others don't have one either, so I am not at a disadvantage Actually, I don't think I have any will, my mind is forcing me to do the things I do, and sometimes it even lets me know what I do. But then again, who is that 'I', anyway? Maybe one should not discuss about 'free will', but about 'conscious will'

kennethamy

You mean you do not want to do anything you do, but your mind is forcing you to do those things. I don't see how you cannot have any will, and yet you are under compulsion. How can that be? Mustn't you want to do something and be prevented from doing it, or not want to do something, and be forced to do it, to be under compulsion?

Irascible Doughnut

Hm, I was wondering if a decision I take 'consciously' is not exactly the same one as the one I would take if I did not even know I was taking a decision. All I do is consider as many relevant aspects as possible and weigh them according to my likings, fears etc. (all of which I assume are also stored in my brain somewhere and thus accessible to my mind even without my knowing it). So, basically I might also decide a non-urgent matter while asleep. Maybe that is why they say 'sleep on it'. And maybe that is where many decisions are being taken.

That is why I mentioned the question as to what 'I' is.
Maybe it is like with a computer: even if I turn off my display (consciousness), the computer keeps running. The only difference is that nobody knows anymore what it is doing. Thus it seems to me that the major advantage of being conscious is to be able to interact with others more and faster.

makotech222

<edit>. your mind is who you are. therefore your you yourself are forcing yourself to do what you want. therefore you have free will...

enoch007

As someone with decidedly less knowledge than everyone I will say:

Your god has already granted you free will because you waste you prayers praying for a stupid job, which makes you nothing but a crass materialist who's already chosen their path to hell, whether you get this job or not you will simply continue to chase your materialistic cravings into your shallow grave.

Irascible Doughnut

Thanks for your friendly reply. Your view is the one most of us would be very comfortable with and thus adopt ... To me will is basically necessity.

makotech222

my apologies for the reply, im use to other forums where a lot of people are insulting.
anyways my example is just an example. it could be something like praying for a persons recovery, or safety.

makebate dags

Hello and welcome to IIDB. Only time now for a quick reply but on first looking at this it seems to me your paradox is more of a contradiction.

Also praying seems to me a form of favoritism and special pleading in a sense and not of no value. People beat themselves up trying to do this or that to get favoritism from God then notice the randomness of hits and misses and take it as either there is no God or God is mad at me or something else? I think some of that falls under 'ad hoc' explanations for that fallacy.

Anyways. Welcome to IIDB and to a few logical fallacies; contradiction, special pleading and ad hoc hypothesis. Not researching this much but some logical errors seems present in this to me. Maybe you can correct me on these since I'm not sure but I don't think it's a paradox unless the counter-intuitive thing in question; is actually true or the case. Just wouldn't seem that it would intuitively be correct.

Best regards,
- Dags

makotech222

okay well its not a paradox then, lol. yeah your statement seems true. people just notice the randomness and associate it with god. its more like murphys law really.