666

„Determinism and the illusion of free will: Imagine I’m walking down the street and suddenly a car swerves out of control towards me. Not wanting to be hit by it, I jump out of the way. Did I make a free choice to jump? Well, sort of. I mean, I jumped because I wanted to. I wanted to avoid being hit, and that desire is entirely internal. But who wouldn’t want to avoid being hit? I mean, sure, I wanted to jump, but the cause of that desire was the car, something external. So although the immediate cause of my action was internal, ultimately the cause of my action was external. So I think it’s fair to say that I was forced to jump out of the way by something external to me – the car – and therefore I wasn’t acting freely. Well, if determinism is true, then it’s universally true, isn’t it? Every action you ever take is ultimately determined by something external to you. So even if there is some relevant difference between actions that originate internally and those that originate externally, if determinism is true, then all actions ultimately originate externally. There’s no such thing as an ultimately internally determined action, and therefore no such thing as free will, well, only the illusion of it. ——- A simplified version for those who didn’t understand the concept or find it difficult: The decision to jump out of the way of the car was not determined by your choice but by the car itself, and other inestimable causes, which in turn was determined by another cause, and another, ad infinitum. It’s actually not your choice to do so; that decision is just the illusion of free will. Even if you choose to jump in front of the car, that decision too is determined by the car itself,and other inestimable causes,which in turn was determined by another cause, and another, ad infinitum.“