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Thursday 4 March 2010
Free will is an illusion, biologist says

As Cashmore explains, the human brain acts at both the conscious level as well as the unconscious. It’s our consciousness that makes us aware of our actions, giving us the sense that we control them, as well. But even without this awareness, our brains can still induce our bodies to act, and studies have indicated that consciousness is something that follows unconscious neural activity. Just because we are often aware of multiple paths to take, that doesn’t mean we actually get to choose one of them based on our own free will. As the ancient Greeks asked, by what mechanism would we be choosing? The physical world is made of causes and effects - “nothing comes from nothing” - but free will, by its very definition, has no physical cause. The Roman philosopher and poet Lucretius, in reference to this problem of free will, noted that the Greek philosophers concluded that atoms “randomly swerve” - the likely source of this movement being the numerous Greek gods.

270 notes

  1. weareinfinite reblogged this from funeral
  2. psychexplorare reblogged this from thenonexistent and added:
    Free will is an illusion, biologist says...As Cashmore explains, the human brain acts at...
  3. thenonexistent reblogged this from mobscenity
  4. lexihalaby reblogged this from mobscenity and added:
    I finished reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and this is what the book was about; your unconscious mind and the...
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    funeral:allisfleeting:azspot:
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  13. meditationbytheriverside reblogged this from ageofreason and added:
    I simply exist then. But where is there apathy.
  14. steeleanneamber reblogged this from ageofreason and added:
    Interestingly so
  15. corona--graminea reblogged this from ageofreason and added:
    “The physical world is made of causes and effects - ‘nothing comes from nothing’” This statement is inaccurate. Physical...
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  17. scienceandstuff reblogged this from azspot and added:
    As Cashmore explains, the human brain acts at both the conscious level as well as the unconscious. It’s our...
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