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Is Everything Determined or Do We Have Influence over What Happens?
“Is there free will?” is a poorly formulated question. Rather, let’s look at choice as a tiny influence among many factors we can’t control, which may have a huge impact depending on the individual, the context, and the way events unfold.
There’s a ton of buzz with the release of Robert Sapolsky’s book Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will. His basic argument as I understand it is that there are so many factors which determine our behavior — such as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), genetics and an array of historical and sociological factors — that it’s inconceivable we have any sway over the course of our lives. Is it so mechanistic?
Maybe when we use our intellect to construct a linear model of time, we lose touch with the part of it that is free. Perhaps that sense of linear time itself is the illusion.
On the other hand, maybe it’s just the feeling we have when we make a nonlinear jump. Or we have an association that surprises us, which feels like it was a choice. It can be exhilarating.
People get worked up over the free will debate, though for many it matters not a whit. Having…