Group Video: "Mind Over Masters: The Question of Free Will"

To start off, I've never been very philosophy-minded nor have I ever been very interested in learning about philosophy (it hurts my brain). That being said, it was somewhat difficult for me to pay attention to the video due to my disinterest in philosophy and I'm not sure if I'll be able to put my thoughts into words very well but I'll try my best.

I think the most difficult thing about about understanding the concept of free will is that we don't really even have a concrete definition of it in the first place. One argument that was mentioned in the video is that the brain makes unconscious decisions and that any action driven by an unconscious decision is not a free action. Additionally, the brain generates a "feeling of agency" which may just be fooling us into thinking we have free will. But even so, whether our decisions are conscious or unconscious and whether or not we truly have "free will," we do have the ability to make choices based on our surroundings and the information presented to us and I think that's at least pretty close to free will.

There were a few quotes I wanted to discuss a little bit as well. The first one is "If we can't get rid of the demon then we'll make the body as uninhabitable for it as possible." I'm not going to go super in-depth about this one because I think it says more about mental health than it does about free will but it kind of resonated with me and made me think about why people with depression or some other mental illness commit acts of self-harm.

The next quote is "If there is no free will, how can you experiment to see if there is free will? Won't the outcome already be determined?" Mainly I just liked this one because it put my exact thoughts into words.

Lastly, the quote, "Don't stop imagining possibilities and you won't stop seeing choices." I'm not sure if I really have anything to say about this one, I just liked it because it was kind of inspiring.

Overall, my argument would be that yes, I do think that free will exists. I do believe that we have the ability to make our own choices, whether conscious or unconscious, and the idea that we're not actually making our own choices... not only does it scare me a little bit but it also confuses me. If we're not making our own choices then who is? Is the world just a simulation? Is there some sort Big Brother program making our decisions for us? Is it God? Not of it seems plausible to me so I'm just going to continue believing that free will does exist.

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