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Here is my take on free will. I hope I can explain it well enough that people understand.

For a long time I have not seen the contradiction between a single fixed future and free will.

The universe is four-dimensional, time being a dimension (though a very different kind of dimension from space).

The future only unfolds in one way. Each decision you make leads to one future, it does not split the universe into multiple futures. You can only choose one future. Therefore only one timeline exists, the one that we all travel on into the shared future that we all experience.

But we all have free will. We all make decisions that affect the present and those affects determine the future.

Some people take the logical step that if the universe must unfold in the one fated way, then we do not have the freedom to take a different path.

But this is incorrect. We do have the freedom to take a different path. We just don't do it. Because of who we are.

Fate isn't something outside of you that you are a slave to with no free will. YOU are the fate that is making the one true future. Or rather, you are a part of that fate, and you have perfectly free will.

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Discussion

mister_monster 9mo ago

This might interest you. https://aeon.co/essays/a-new-field-theory-reveals-the-hidden-forces-that-guide-us

There's a lot going on here, and there's a lot of not very popsci (because popsci is dead) research that ties into this free will, decision making and creativity stuff. Particularly besides what I linked I don't know if you have heard of something called assembly theory, but it is being formalized primarily by a chemist named Lee Cronin and an astrophysicist named Sarah Walker, and while the theory itself is pretty formal and they don't venture into anything too crazy, the pair each have very interesting personal opinions on what is going on underneath it all. Lee Cronin in particular has expressed the opinion that invention may be a temporal perturbation, that is, an interaction with the future. I tend to think hes on to something there, though maybe not necessarily entirely correct. They're both very brilliant people.

My personal pet hypothesis on this topic is that we don't clearly understand time, maybe even we are neurologically incapable of it, but that creativity, invention, decision making interact with time in a way we don't really understand but intuitively feel and frame in ways that seem obvious to us without articulating them clearly. I'd like to try to understand it if possible, and do work on understanding the ideas as best I can.

Mike Dilger ☑️ 9mo ago

Ah. I see from that article that there is a term for what I believe: compatibilism. Yes, I'm a compatibilst. I see no incompatibility between determinism and free will.

liminal 🦠 9mo ago

Yeah, its a matter of scope. The free will we have is the capacity to do a single action at any point in time, everything else is a response to that action.

Mike Dilger ☑️ 9mo ago

Another way of saying this is that there is a confusion when people say things like "the future already exists."

In a timelike way, the future does NOT already exist. We are creating the future. In a timelike way, also, the past doesn't exist either. It has morphed into the future.

Only in a fourth-dimensional way does the future exist. And we don't have the language to express this properly, or even mental ability to comprehend it well.

If all this is too confusing, what I want people to understand is that they have free will. Never start believing you don't have free will.

Emperor Kuzco 9mo ago

That is correct. Have you ever looking into the existence of the pineal glad and what it does.

I think of it as a fourth-dimensional generator.

TheLegendaryMan 9mo ago

How do you use it?

Emperor Kuzco 9mo ago

You mean like more in general, or me specifically?

You are using it all the time.

TheLegendaryMan 9mo ago

More like a request for an instruction manual.

Emperor Kuzco 9mo ago

Well, can you rotate a cube in your mind?

TheLegendaryMan 9mo ago

I am going to need more to go on than that.

Do I have the ability to visualize and rotate a cube when I close my eyes and focus. Yes.

Emperor Kuzco 9mo ago

Believe it or not, but not everyone can't even visualize a simple cube. It'd be like someone talking to you about music but you not even being able to hold a beat. Why would I want to waste my time?

Long story short I believe humans have the ability to create reality by basically willing it into existence. Everything around us may appear solid but in reality is probably more than a really thick liquid held together by the covalent bond of atoms. When you get into water are you really wet? This can branch off into physical manipulation of surroundings (imprinting) or even enchanting objects. Can be done with emotion or just someone's aura or presents.

Every day that you wake up you bring intentions and thoughts into this world that has the ability to make either a positive or negative change. Ever just feel the vibe of a room or person? Is that just your intuition or are you actually "feeling" something.

People have more senses than just the standard five. I wouldn't be surprised if it's more like six or seven. Problem is, the easiest way to disrupt these senses is by distress. This is the fucked up part because this is knowingly used against The People.

Mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing is important. Ever be driving down the road and you have to turn down the music so you can see better? It's sort of like that.

I find that meditation, yoga, good nourishment (not the shit out of a box), and quality sleep helps bring balance and clarity. All of this helps you see that little cube in your head.

Emperor Kuzco 8mo ago

Did you get any of that?

Apatight⚡️ 9mo ago

In order for anything to be omniscient (all knowing) every experience must be had by everything and uploaded to a master conscienceness. Binary on/off with every crossroad… everything has to be experienced, or nothing could possibly know all. To be clear, I have no dog in the fight, as I do not believe there was a beginning, nor do I believe there will ever be an end. All is constant change.

Mike Dilger ☑️ 9mo ago

I expressly do not believe that there is a god that can affect the present who also knows the future. Omniscience is logically incompatible with time. Some people will throw out time, I throw out the former.

Apatight⚡️ 9mo ago

I am in partial agreement- I throw out both time and omniscience. 🤙

Apatight⚡️ 9mo ago

Might I also say it is nice to meet a bitcoiner with their own thoughts as opposed to those who employ “don’t trust, verify” in money, but not the mysteries of the Universe. The omniscience angle was to assess who you are. It’s a pleasure to read your comment.

plantimals 9mo ago

would you call this "compatibalism"?

Mike Dilger ☑️ 9mo ago

Yes, I have just learnt that word. But I disagree with britannica.com's opening paragraph on it. I am not weaking the common sense notion of free will. And I think people can be fully held morally responsible for their actions.

Mike Dilger ☑️ 9mo ago

If you build a car with a broken engine, you can hold that car responsible for being unable to drive. You can also hold responsible an upstream cause... whoever built it. But the car itself is certainly at fault.. it has a fault in it's engine.

Emperor Kuzco 9mo ago

We have a Banker's intended design of future or we have GOD's intended human Free Will future of independent freedom. I hope that came out right.

Basically I see two parallel futures and I feel humanity will be on one of them shortly. Choose wisely.

Dissident Sound 9mo ago

so basically it's a black guys fate to be shot by the cops

but it isn't because the cops want to shoot him

it's because despite what everyone tells him he continues to choose the life of crime

even though it isn't really his choice - he was born a criminal

his black skin makes the choice to commit the crimes for him

he just believes he makes those decisions

but reality is his decisions are made for him and he simply becomes aware of them and rationalizes that he was the one who made those decisions

thus he has free will but his will is ultimately to be shot dead by cops like a dog

this is why liberals argue that we should release all back criminals because punishing them can't stop them from being black and thus from committing crimes

indeed it can't but sending them to Africa can - or at least it can stop them from committing crimes against those who aren't in Africa

so liberals are right on prisons - the "correctional" facilities do not "correct" anybody, because one's nature and character is set in stone and is immutable.

liberals however then contradict themselves by saying you can import any subhuman garbage from a turd world shithole and give them some documents and make them "American" the same way as Einstein or Tesla became American when he moved to US from Europe.

Dissident Sound 9mo ago

our life is 100% the result of decisions we believe we make

however we don't actually make any decisions - the decisions are made by molecules in our brain and we simply become aware of these decisions and tell ourselves that we made those decisions because it feels like we did

but we didn't

we are actually just observing ourselves act like watching a movie in which we ourselves are the stars

Mike Dilger ☑️ 9mo ago

This *can* be true if your define yourself narrowly. I define myself more broadly, so I am making the decisions, not just watching them.

Dissident Sound 9mo ago

i believe this was studied and determined that the actual moment decision is made precedes the moment when people become aware of the decision.

meaning your consciousness is the catcher and not the pitcher.

decision is made subconsciously and you later become aware of it consciously but believe that the decision was conscious.

Primate 9mo ago

1. Consciousness unfolds in all dimensions that can perceive it.

2. We get to choose where (and as whom) within that relativistic spectrum of an absolute whole we identify. Enlightenment. Mindfulness. Intentional living. Whatever we want to call it.

3. It is this act of identifying that will give shape to an intention that will, in its turn, manifest as our lived experience. Our reality.