Do you believe in free will?

Question

Please read the whole question to answer this question. Personally I do not believe free will exists. I believe everything can be predicted based on statistics. I believe that genetics, who your with, your environment, the people around you, your mood and attitude, the weather, and the time of day all play a role in how you act to a situation.

My theory goes that if you document down 1-10 million lives, with every detail included, and put that into many computers to check for patterns in all the things I mentioned above, I bet you could accurately predict what someone would do 100% of the time based on the patterns discovered in the computers.

So, what do you think of my theory?

timbugtiny raises an interesting point. I guess you would have to calculate each person's intelligence in a variety of ways. Then compare all of those statistics as well.

Actually I guess they are chosen, but with statistics you could with 100% accuracy (in my opinion) know what someone will do, before the "choose" to do it.

Answer 1

Nice theory for you.
My answer, though, is ... Yes. I believe in free will.

Answer 2

Just because you have the capacity to predict something doesn't mean free will doesn't exists. Yes, if you know everything about someone - down to finest detail - you can figure out possible actions, most of the time (maybe even 99.999999...%).

Ultimately, everything in the universe is reactive to everything else. But, those paradigms change all the time. Your 'database' would need to be updated in real time to keep the highest probability rate on many (if not all) people. As soon as the next random event, fashion or fad comes into play, the paradigm changes. Unless, you’re predictive questions have a broader specificity than implied.

While some people live their lives in fairly defined patterns, there are those that go 'outside the box' all the time. There are people who excel in bending, breaking and redefining the rules to suit whatever is driving them at that particular time.

If these 'pattern breakers' didn't exist, people would have no innovation in their lives. No science, no art, no culture. We would still be running around hunting rabbits and eating wild flowers. If these people are the control in your theory, you would need to be able to predict GENIOUS, and I'm not sure that's possible.

If your theory breaks down in the extremes, it can't really be proven. Also, 10 million lives is a small percentage of 6+ billion people. Is that even a large enough sample? Or, are you just talking one specific country or culture?

Even with all the facts, creatures of 'free will' still have the power to 'decide' whether or not to act. It might work if you confined your data to one person or one small cultural group, but, I think things would break down on larger scales.

That being said, the theory does have some practical applications if applied to analysis of cultural trends, marketing and criminal activity (to name a few).

Nice question.

Answer 3

Your opinion is, of course, valid.

But honestly, I, very much, disagree.

You can't predict people, and neither can a computer. This is a little stretched from your question, but what if someone got in a car accident? The computer wouldn't be able to foresee that... Or even death. And there are people that do things on a whim.

I've moved several times. I've lived in the sticks, where the nearest store was an hour away, I've lived in big cities, and gone back to the country, and now I live in Chicago, and I haven't changed the way I live. I liked finer things when I lived in the country, and I like the finer things in life now. I eat the same foods, I hang out with the same type of people. I drive the cars I like, and I watch the same TV shows.

:)

Answer 4

You could find a pattern, but such a method wouldn't be a hundred percent. Too much chaos is in the equation for this to happen.

I don't know about much about the topic of free will, but I will tell you this.

If I had a chance of giving up my free will just to know and share the answer of what life really is with others, I would do it.

And wouldn't that be a choice of free will?

Of course it would.

Why?

Because it what I chose to do.

Answer 5

I don't believe we live in free-will because everything we do is based on live on rules and standard. If we have a free will, every one would do anything and there's chaos. That's why there's a good thing "rules" were set to keep everything organized. Luckily we live a great country having so much freedom. Unfortunately some people takes it for granted.

Answer 6

It sounds like the ruminations
of a paranoid schizophrenic
to me. Well, did your MACHINE
predict that response 100%
accurately?
Bottom line is; even with all of the proposed elements and factors included..there is still a
decision which was freely made
without force. We're not talking about being abducted or anything. This is about someone "deciding" whether or not to pull an armed robbery.
"Deciding" whether to feed their
hungry children or blow the grocery money on drugs or booze. Or gambling or shopping.

What you're proposing support a
system of innocence by lack of self-control due to outside influences, thereby, making all of our faults being blamable on
everything other than our own free participation. As if we were somehow co-erged by our environments, DNA's, circumstances, weather conditions, times of day, types of clothes we decided to wear, names we were given at birth, and all other kinds of lame-a**
excuses to avoid taking responsibilities for our own actions. This is a cop-out and a hot load of freshly fermented cr*p.

If you didn't have free will then you would automatically be born incapable of sinning nor making any errors. GAB (grow a brain).
Stop letting science substitute
common sense for book sense.
Peace. For ignorance has lead many to their own demise.

Answer 7

well, it's your theory but has no validity. if we didn't have 'free will' then we'd be programmed to do whatever....yes, God created a plan/purpose for our lives and He knows how things will work out, He IS the creator of all that exists, but we make our own decisions based on our circumstances. After so many generations of people through thousands of years, of course, we've become predictable. good thinking though.

Answer 8

There is no margin for error in your idea. Statistically speaking, nothing in this universe is 100%...Where do you chart your hypothesis on a probability curve...I shouldn't have to say more.

Therefore, regarding free will... I stopped in to answer and skipped the question about a freak show and her relationship... Personal preferance is hard to predict. I happen to like psycology.

Answer 9

Detailed observation is not free will, the choice you make is the free will...Granted you can predict the patterns, but no matter what, that person has the choice and the freedom to choose be it unreasonable or reasonable.
edit: Your theory is interesting, yet I find it scary, of someone had the data to know exactly how anyone would respond to a situation alot of people would abuse this power.

Answer 10

Yes I believe in free will. The problem for some people is they fail to consider the consequences of their actionis taken while practicing their free will.