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bbleeker comments on Explanations for Less Wrong articles that you didn't understand - Less Wrong Discussion

18 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 31 March 2014 11:19AM

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Comment author: bbleeker 03 April 2014 08:37:24AM -1 points [-]

Determinism is the outside view; free will is what it feels like from the inside. Right now I'm typing this comment, and it certainly feels to me like I am deciding what to say, i.e., I feel I have free will. Taking the outside view, what I'm writing has been inevitable since the Big Bang, i.e., it has been determined.

Comment author: [deleted] 03 April 2014 01:38:27PM 0 points [-]

That's not quite an answer to my question.

Comment author: bbleeker 04 April 2014 06:25:15PM 0 points [-]

Oh, sorry! I misread your question. You're asking if I think free will is an illusion. I guess you could say that yes, I think it doesn't really exist, because we make decisions and take actions because of our thoughts and feelings, which are ultimately 'just' processes within our brains, which are subject to the laws of physics. Like I said, from the moment of the Big Bang it has been inevitable that I would come to write this comment. It's mind-boggling, really. Also mind-boggling is the amount of time I've already spent writing and thinking about and rewriting (and rere[...]rewriting this comment, that's why it is so late.