The Illusion of Free Will
Page 8
1. Did he have free will at the moment of their action?
2. Should he be blamed for their action/decision?
3. Did he behave correctly, or incorrectly?
4. Is he good or evil?
5. Should he be punished? How severely?
6. Is he going to hell? Does he deserve hell?
7. Did this person act courageously or cowardly?
8. Could he have acted otherwise?
Ask the same questions about the caregiver. Who is responsible and deserves punishment and why?
Case 7: Assume the same scenario but instead it's your father, suffering from dementia, he hears voices next door and gets his gun thinking people are coming to "take him away" and he shoots the neighbor.
1. Did he have free will at the moment of their action?
2. Should he be blamed for their action/decision?
3. Did he behave correctly, or incorrectly?
4. Is he good or evil?
5. Should he be punished? How severely?
6. Is he going to hell? Does he deserve hell?
7. Did this person act courageously or cowardly?
8. Could he have acted otherwise?
Are you responsible for your father’s actions and should you be punished? (Instead of the sins of the father, it’s the sins of the son.)
Case Studies-Killing
You can apply the eight questions to all of the scenarios below. If you believe in free will, note at which scenario you decide the person had free will to make a different choice.
Jackson kills 10 people and is found to have a brain tumor the size of a golf ball.
Sophia kills 5 children, heard voices, doctors conclude she is schizophrenic.
A dictator kills one million people; he was abused as a child for 10 years, has the warrior gene and was taught since birth it was either them or us.
Emma kills her baby due to post-partum-psychosis and religious indoctrination; she believed Satan had possessed the child.
Mason bludgeons his neighbor, Aiden to death for playing his stereo too loud. Determined through fMRI Mason has a large gap in the morality area of his brain caused by a viral infection years ago.
Emily kills parents, hears voices in his head
Jayden kills Mia with a nail gun, confirmed diagnoses include PTSD, traumatized from war; he was taught to be a killer; also has the warrior gene.
Lucas jumps of a bridge to kill himself. Clinically depressed. Genetic predisposition toward depression; abused as child; loner;
Ethan is a moral and good person for fifty years, but at one moment, on a given day, is just one click off. He has one drink too many, one comment too many, one setback too many, and after he is pushed, in an instant picked up a knife off kitchen table and thrust it into his father-in-law's stomach during a family barbeque.
Joey is a paid killer for a local crime gang. He has killed over a dozen people for money.
Arnold, 85, kills police office after being arrested for creating a disturbance. Said he thought they were going to take his home away from him. Man suffers from Alzheimer’s.
Freddie, with an IQ of 70, loses his temper and kills a pregnant woman and a deputy sheriff.
In any of examples did these people have the "free won't" ability some suggest? Why don't we insert the immaterial soul or consciousness in the tumor or postpartum psychosis situations?
If our free will sits outside and above or brain anatomy, and the neurochemical and electrical activity within, why do those with measurable brain damage behave in such predictable ways? Should not the immaterial mind step in and correct their behavior? There is simply no evidence, other than faith that indicates it does.
Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS)
Gail has no history of excessive gambling but suddenly goes to the casino over the weekend and loses over 100,000 after taking the restless leg syndrome drug Requip™.
Is this free will? Could she have done otherwise?
RLS is a neurological disorder where the individual has weird sensations in their legs while they are trying to relax. These sensations can be merely unpleasant or painful. The result is that the individual has trouble sleeping leading to a marked reduction in their quality of life.
RLS is treated with drugs similar to Parkinson’s drugs—drugs that function as dopamine agonists.
It is known that a rare side effect of Parkinson’s drugs is compulsive gambling.
This is explained because dopamine is involved with the reward centers of the brain. Those with too much dopamine in some parts of their brains get a perverse sense of reward, hence the problems with gambling. Requip™ is Ropinirole Hcl.
Did she have free will or not? Accepting the illusion of free will means we work on preventing this behavior in the future through awareness and education; with free will we blame the victim as lacking will power, self-control, character, and she needs to punished and perhaps sent to hell for all eternity for her wicked behavior.
Which attitude has more humanity? Which has more compassion? What would Jesus say?
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
–Matthew 7:1-3
Case Studies-Neurology
Person kills himself based on a chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) diagnosis due to concussions. He has repetitive brain trauma.
Testing of his brain tissue after death (the only way to definitively diagnose CTE) found that he had Stage 2 CTE, which is associated with erratic behavior and memory loss. Stage 4, the worst possible expression of the disease, is associated with full-blown dementia, aggression, and paranoia.
Suicide is a cardinal sin. Did he make a choice? Of course he did. Did he have free will at the specific moment of his suicide? Does he go to hell and everlasting torture and torment?
Daniel and Jason are a homosexual couple, together in a caring, loving relationship for over fifty years. They have both been homosexual their entire life; they are loving parents to two adopted children. Highly principled, they never hurt anyone, stole, or lied. After being together for fifty years they die just hours apart.
Their friends eulogize them as the most caring and compassionate couple they have ever met. They dedicated their life to the caring for animals, building homes for the poor, and teaching illiterate adults to read. Note that in this situation the phrase “it’s a choice” is considered synonymous with “they had free will” or “they could have chosen otherwise”. That is not my definition and you must be very clear of your definition and how it differs.
1. Did they have free will over their life-long lifestyle?
2. Should they be blamed for their action/decision?
3. Did they behave correctly, or incorrectly?
4. Are they good or evil?
5. Should they be punished? How severely?
6. Are they going to hell? Do they deserve hell?
7. Could they have acted otherwise?
A couple in their sixties had their dog with them in their boat on a lake; their dog jumped out into a lake and they both jumped in to save the dog. They both drowned. The dog was later found on the shoreline.
In another story the dog jumped in the ocean and was pulled out to sea in a riptide. The elderly owner jumped in to save the dog and drowned. The dog survived.
Do you think they could have done otherwise? Was their split-second decision made freely? Was it made wisely? If it was played out 100 times would the outcome be different?
Both stories above were actual events.
Every event you experience is stored, not just in one, but in multiple areas in your brain. Some are unimportant; others are traumatic and long-lasting.
When you were young you were bit by a Pekinese dog. Now you have an unwarranted fear of Pekinese dogs. You mother always liked your sister better thereby making you feel inferior. Your spouse was abusive–telling you for 20 years you were stupid and lazy. When you were in college, someone broke into your apartment stealing all your electronics; you were fearful and wary for over twenty y
ears as a result. Your minister told you every weekend you were wicked and a sinner. That masturbation was bad, sex was bad, and that if you did not deny the flesh and love the Lord you would spend an eternity in hell. You accepted this without question and your entire life you were fearful and consumed by guilt and shame and never enjoyed sex.
You have a genetic predisposition to depression due to an imbalance of serotonin or dopamine in your brain. You thought about taking medication for this but your religious beliefs convinced you that praying was a better alternative and that God will provide.
You were in a car accident and had a concussion killing .03 percent of the neurons in a key moral decision area of your brain. While one could argue that is not a lot, statistically speaking there has to be an instance, in someone's brain where the decision to fight or run, shoot or not, jump or not, is just one click out of millions.
We have been taught and we want to believe that we have this intangible, non-material substance known as free will, will-power, or self-control. The issue is not whether we choose–it is whether we could have done otherwise, or if every variable, every atom was exactly the same, could the choice have been different.
Logical Bias, Survivor
This is the logical error of concentrating on the people or things that "survived" some process and unconsciously ignoring those that did not because of their lack of visibility. It is the hallmark of prayer and The Secret’s© Law of Attraction. It is most common among people of faith because it reaffirms their belief.
This universe (fine-tuning argument).
Life on earth
Life in general
Weight loss
Real estate investment
All get rich quick schemes.
Stock selection
Gambling on anything (e.g., race horses, stocks, technology, and blackjack).
War survivors
Faith (I survived because I believed I would survive or had faith in God.) (also a tautology; also a logical fallacy).
God answers my prayers
The universe loves me and gives me what I want.
Their good fortune could have been being in the right place at the right time (aka luck).
Thought Experiments
Thought Experiment 1
I have assembled a list of 17 internal and external factors that will impact our decision at a given instant. The exact number of variables could be thousands and the calculations mind-boggling. The interrelationship between the variables could be complex polynomial expressions not just simple addition. The choice could be completely neutral to a life or death decision. The number of variables, the exact numbers allocated to them or their relative importance is not critical.
What matters is that for every choice, there must, by definition, be a specific number or discrete, binary event that switches A or B, fight or run, red or blue. Adding some quantum fluctuation concept or even an immaterial mind only makes it worse. A random, quantum variable just means that there is no rhyme or reason for any decision we make–it becomes a probability event.
Concerning the immaterial mind or “free won’t” there just is no evidence for it. But if you really wanted to, give it your own value (2,000) and add it into the equation and decide for yourself when, where and how you think it overrides a dozen proven variables stacked against the person’s ability to choose a positive outcome.
If you would like to help me update/improve this list you can contact me at my website: www.improbulos.com.
Here is my initial list. Feel free to add your own variables or change a value.
1
GMAT warrior Gene/ Aggression genes (12)
1500
2
Physically/verbally abused in years
1500
3
Neurotransmitters imbalance: (lower number is better)
1000
4
Endocrine/electrolyte imbalance
1000
5
Education toward crime
1000
6
Peer pressure toward crime
1000
7
Other variables: unemployed, not attractive, not skilled, awkward, not talented, not athletic, teased and bullied.
1000
8
Mental illness, psychosis, Asperger’s, autism, depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, Huntingdon’s syndrome
1500
9
Impulse control damaged by early drug use or current chemical imbalance.
250
10
Addictive behaviors (alcohol, drugs, gambling)
1000
12
Lack of moral training (less is better) or potential for religious zealotry
500
13
Percent loss of neurons, synapses, dendrites (less is better)
500
14
Psychological trauma (PTSD)
500
15
Physical damage to areas of the brain due to concussions, penetration, viral.
1000
16
Reduced capacity due to intoxication or immediate drug use.
500
17
IQ of 70 or less.
250
TOTAL:
14000
Click here for more on the warrior gene.
The list is both simplistic and ambitious. I think the numbers would be more accurate if they totaled in the millions but that would be unwieldy.
I am not asserting that certain variables above lead to aggressive behavior, for example autism or a reduced IQ. The point is that it is an internal antecedent event that will impact any given decision or choice.
In our example, the higher the number the more likely a negative behavior or outcome. A lower number is a positive behavior or outcome.
The scenario is: Eric is in a drugstore and deciding whether to rob it or not. Our arbitrary number is 7000 or below he does not rob the store; 7001 and up he robs it. We will now examine examples tweaking the variable to produce different outcomes. Work this exercise with the list of questions I posed earlier.
In this example the variables add up to 7010. Here is what his internal and external profile looks like.
1
Aggression genes
1500
90%
1350
2
Physically/verbally abused
1500
90%
1350
3
Neurotransmitters imbalance:
1000
51%
510
4
Endocrine/electrolyte imbalance
1000
25%
250
5
Education toward crime
1000
75%
750
6
Peer pressure toward crime
1000
75%
750
7
Other: unemployed, bullied.
1000
75%
750
8
Mental illness
1500
40%
600
9
Low Impulse control
250
36%
90
10
Addictive behaviors (alcohol, drugs)
1000
0%
0
12
Lack of moral training
500
51%
255
13
Percent loss of neurons
500
51%
255
14
Psychological trauma (PTSD)
500
0%
0
15
Physical damage brain
1000
10%
100
16
Reduced capacity (int
oxication)
500
0%
0
17
IQ of 70 or less.
250
0%
0
TOTAL:
14000
7010
total possible
bad decision
Whew! That’s a lot of variables. Let’s examine Eric’s profile in more detail.
1
Aggression genes
GMAT warrior gene and others, high
2
Physically/verbally abused
Abused and beaten as a child. Little love
3
Neurotransmitters imbalance:
This is just 1% over average.
4
Endocrine/electrolyte imbalance
Low
5
Education toward crime
He hung out with a gang.
6
Peer pressure toward crime
Fighting and crime was cool.
7
Other: unemployed, bullied.
He had trouble keeping a job.
8
Mental illness
Low, but not insignificant
9
Low Impulse control
Low, but not insignificant.
10
Addictive behaviors (alcohol, drugs)
Oddly enough, he has no addictions.