I started thinking about this when I saw the other thread telling everyone how privileged we all are. His thesis basically being my life sucked growing up -> IB is nothing compared to that, we all should be grateful -> check your privilege.
My case: Free will do not exist. You don't pick your parents so you don't pick your genes. Similarly, you don't pick your environment. Your environment and genes determine 100% of who you are. Thus, there is almost nothing about you that you choose. Where is the free will in this?
The OP in the other thread sort of humble bragged saying "I went to a good school despite shitty household, full academic scholarship, 3.95+ GPA, 99% MCAT, ground like hell for IB." As tempting as it may be to take all the credit for beating the odds, the truth is most people are not capable of getting a 99% on the MCAT. I couldn't achieve that score no matter how hard I studied. That is genetic. He had no role in being gifted that kind of intellect.
Having this kind of mindset has been really helpful to me on a personal level. I am grateful, and more importantly, more humble because I deeply believe that all my successes are not really due to my own doing.
Thoughts?
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I don't think it's as black and white as: there has to be absolute free will or absolute determinism, nothing in between. Yes, there are factors we can't control that affect our lives, like being gifted with a higher than average IQ or being raised in a stable household, but at the end of the day you still have to take advantage of the skills and strengths you've been given. Simply having a high IQ doesn't guarantee success, and neither does coming from a high NW family. I'm not sure what the actual statistic is, but the majority of generational wealth is lost by the second generation, and even more is lost by the third. Personally, it's your job to perform the best you can given your outcome in the genetic and social lottery, being proud in your accomplishments yet acknowledging that without your gifts, you wouldn't have made it. Once you're successful, bless other people with your insight and help them win some battles they can't win on their own. It might be a bit naive, but we need leadership that excels in their executive decision making while also keeping in mind the people who weren't so lucky. Life isn't as clean as hard work -> success, and recognizing that reality might really change the way we look at each other for the better.
contingent on the fact that you are able to attain a college education, and aren't in a war-torn country or one with hyperinflation, free-will begins here. From college, you have every tool available to yourself to take on the world. Want to become an investment banker, go prep technicals? Want to code the next billion dollar startup, the odds are incredibly slim, but nothing is stopping you. Go to a non-target? Transfer to a better one.
That assumes that your drive, ambition and ability to work on a long term goal aren't a product of your environment and I'm not sure if I 100% agree with that.
"I believe in free will, I have no other choice" - some dead white dude
The MCAT is really challenging.
"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
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Learn MoreI believe in free will. Your genetics and environment are not the only factors that determine how you make decisions. Many times, a decision you make (study or don't study, exercise or don't exercise) is completely up to you. This is why you see people (even twins) coming from the same environment having very different outcomes.
From what I've read, twin studies actually suggest the opposite of what you're saying. Identical twins who are separated at birth and raised in different environments often have very similar eating habits, BMI, SAT scores etc. This means genes are more important than your surroundings.
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Correct, also true of adopted kids. On many important traits, they resemble their biological parents and biological siblings, whom they often haven't even have met, more than they do the parents who adopted and raised them or the adopted siblings they grew up with.
I've seen this happen personally- am friends with a guy who was adopted and grew up into a totally different socioeconomic stratum than he was raised in (adoptive parents were very blue-collar people, but he went to college, then grad school, then became very successful. Then, as an adult, he tracked down both of his biological parents and other biological relatives. Turned out that they were all highly-successful professionals, and beyond that his personality was a lot more similar to theirs than to the people he grew up with. I met them and it was pretty surreal.
Even more true for identical twins separated at birth- there's basically an entire genre of stories about this situation and how incredibly similar they turn out to be.
I consciously agree that there isn't really free will, but it's depressing to think about so I haven't internalized it
You probably don't want to think about it because it might make you responsible. Free will exists.
"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
I meant that I've internalized that free will does in fact exist, since it would sap me of any motivation at all if I internalized that free will isn't real. It makes life much more meaningful to believe that I'm responsible for my happiness, fulfillment, and outcomes
Free will exists.
I went through some fucked up shit as a teenager that formed such a negative and biased view of the world. Worse is that I thought was I normal because I never experienced any other world views. That sounds pretty extreme but yes it was. It was that much of a fucked up shit.
ALL I KNEW WAS THAT I HAD TO CHANGE. So I decided to change just everything about me. No pills, no therapists, no help. PURE BRUTE FORCE. It took me years all the way up to my college years but I finally learned exactly what my problem was. AND I FIXED THAT SHIT. I feel like I fell down an abyss so deep that no light is able to reach, but I climbed out of there. I carry that confidence with me everywhere I go. No hardship will ever be that difficult. And I did all that through power of my own will.
If that's not free will, Idk what is.
Free will is not about the cards you are dealt in life. It is about the decisions you make and the actions you take.
Imagine a running race between two people. One begins with a 100m head start. Has the one who began second lost any free will? He can decide how hard he runs, or he could decide to quit. The first runner has the same options. Just because it is harder for one to come first has not diminished his ability to express free will.
Someone else being born with 200IQ and wealthy parents does not diminish your ability to make decisions.
isnt every decision you make just an effect of some reaction in your brain, I bet in 200 years science could predict every single thing a person will do for a year