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Posted by Mario Dovalina on July 7, 2001 13:55:44 UTC

I don't think Alexander or I are uneducated and ignorant, but let me defend myself a bit.

"Free-Will is believed around the world, such is the reason for punishment for making wrongful choices."

Well, even if free will did not exist, (which I'll get to in a moment) it would not excuse harmful actions. A potential punishment is yet another factor of deterrent in the mind of a potential criminal, and possibly the strongest one in many peoples' minds.

Yes, free will is believed in around the world, and quite naturally, since it feels like it exists. And it does. But let me explain my suspicion a little better.

If you give the brain any input, say, as a simple example, the sensation of pain, you can trace the impulse from the source, to the cerebrum, you can trace the exact number of muscles the brain will stimulate, you can predict the volume of your shout, etc. Look at it this way. Every neuron in the brain has a certain threshold stimulus that it must attain to fire. If the stimulus is below that threshold, nothing happens. If it's above that threshold, the neuron fires. Our entire nervous system is structured like this. Stimulus-response. Stimulus-response. The firing of whatever neuron in whatever situation is predictable given enough information. Where is the room for free will? To me it seems more like circuitry.

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