Do we have a free will?Or everything is predetermined by our genes?
Can we overcome those genetic patterns,traits running in our family?Plz give me a straight dope on this.
That is too big a question for a message board, as a lot of very bright people have been arguing over the basic definitions of “free will” and “predetermined” for centuries and have come to no binding agreement.
That being said, genes set aptitudes and physical limits. You choose how you express yourself within those parameters. Cultural conditioning sets limits on your perceived choices of expression.
More interesting, why do you ask? Any special case in mind?
According to Rush, you simply need to choose it.
We have pseudo-free-will. Like random number generators in computers, if you know the algorithm and the initiation parameters, what comes next is determined. If you don’t know those things, the output looks random.
Similarly, if you had perfect knowledge of someone’s life up to a given point, you would know what their choice will be at any point. Since we can’t know that, it appears to be free will but it isn’t.
To illustrate, if a child has a scare with a dog and an old man rescues him, that will be one of many factors in how the adult will react to situations with old men and dogs.
There are actually at least two Great Debates here. One is “nature vs nurture”: are we the way we are because we were born that way (i.e. genetics), or because we were raised that way (environmental factors). There’s good scientific evidence that it’s a mixture of both, though there’s a lot more that can be said, and a lot that we don’t know.
The second is “free will vs. determinism.” Philosophers have been arguing this one for centuries (and we’ve had some threads here, in the Great Debates forum, on the issue). The answer tim-n-va gives is a position that some people hold, but the issue is far from settled.
He had no choice but to ask.
Probably more than two Great Debates, really. This touches on theology, determinism, physics, ethics (incompatibilism and compatibilism), and a dozen other unsettled topics.
A great resource for this kind of question is the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. But light reading it ain’t.
John Stuart Mill, of his own free will, after half a pint of shandy was particularly ill.
Carrying out an action that was preordained from the beginning of Time, I am moving this to Great Debates.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I don’t.
No, no and yes.
Isn’t there a part of quantum theory that says the past, present, and future are all happening simultaneously? If so, the only thing that makes events appear to happen in some kind of sequence would be our own brains.
Couldn’t we infer from that that the future has already happened? We just haven’t experienced it yet. If the future has already happened, then how could we possibly, through our will or actions, change any part of it?
You have as much free will as you think you have.
We have as close to free will as we can possibly have while having animal bodies. But there’s a complex dance between your insidey parts and your external world that’s always happening.
Genes express proteins. Genes, themselves, express as much as it’s supposed to based on genetic triggers. Proteins can be used to do many wonderful things in your body. One of these things is controlling the expression of genes. Stimuli causes the brain to release stockpiles of proteins (a lot of times in the form of hormones) based on what it perceives outside of itself.
If you see a bear, the brain will push out adrenaline to make you run like you’ve never run before. If you have a certain genetic makeup (Considered abnormal), you may not be able to see the bear at all. And if you have a certain expression make up (also considered abnormal), you might release cortisol instead of adrenaline.
So, who’s in charge? None of them. They all dance in a very complex way to try and keep the organism alive.
Thus, do you have free will? Yes, as much as can be had with a brain, protein mixture, and genetic expression triad will let you have.
Whether we have free will or not is not at all connected to genetic determinism. We know that our future is not totally controlled by our genes.
Consider two fetuses with the same DNA. One is in the womb of a rich woman with perfect medical care. The other is in the womb of a poor alcoholic, and is born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. You think they are going to turn out the same despite their identical genes?
As for free will, you should define what you mean by it first.
What if I choose not to decide?
You still have made a choice. Duh.
Thank you! I’d never been able to make out that line! “Shandy!” Well, of course!
Yes, no. We could take a sample of a person’s blood and run every scientific test in existence on that person’s genes. By doing so, we could learn a great deal about that person’s genetic makeup and physical traits, but nothing at all about the choices that they’ll make today.
When I wake up in the morning, I choose whether to have pancakes, french toast, cereal, yogurt and granola, or something else. No matter how much anyone studied my genes, my pre-natal environment, or my past decisions, they would not know beforehand which choice I was going to make.