Monday, May 13, 2024

Free will

Neurologist Robert Sapolsky says that predisposition makes us do things which we can mistake for free will. In other words, it is the genetic and cultural influences whose program we act under while thinking we are choosing with more spontaneity than we actually do.

I am wondering then where the brain's neuroplasticity fits into this formula. If we are able to shake off some facets of childhood rearing was that also part of predetermined variables?

Regardless of how much free will we think we have, I feel that it is the perception that counts more than the reality. If the person feels they are making progress even within a constrained box of criteria they will feel good about themselves regardless of how little wiggle room they really have.

7 comments:

  1. Having had lived under the authority of one for a number of years, I would say that a sociopath may better be equipped to act out of free will than the rest of us. Consideration of others, only insofar as it may benefit oneself, should make free will easier to attain, even if only in the sociopath's mind. What they don't understand, though, is that restricting the free will of others does not really give themselves more of it in return.

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    2. Sapolsky would probably argue that the sociopath acts the way they do because their neurosis compels them to. Their freedom from guilt and empathy may seem at a distance to liberate them but it is a prison since they never get any true admiration or love back.
      I am curious about how our improvement through the plasticity of our brain somehow gives us a window into some free will because we have bettered ourselves over time and hence overcome original inputs. Food for thought at least :)

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    3. Overcoming original input is dependent on the acting out of what we currently perceive to be one's free will. My propensity to procrastinate, through (overly) self-analyzing, has held me back from free will as much as has the original inputs. I've slowly learned that doing is as important as thinking - even if that leads to more thinking. :)

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    4. Glad I am.not the only overthinker :))

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    5. Better to be overthinking than over thinking altogether. :)

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All respectful comments are welcome :)

When their guard is down

Most people are kind.  It's when you talk to them openly and with a smile that you get to see the best of them when their guard is down....