Good post there. Whether or not you think we have free will, we must live like we do otherwise everything is permisable and that would be a dangerous state of affairs

Oh right. And here i was thinking you'd actually put some thought into it other than just waving your arms around and saying "look, free will"

Also, there is research to suggest that our subconscious does things with out our consciousness prompting it, then our conciousness has to rationalise it. For example when picking something out of a list your subconcious has made the choice a split second before your consciouness comes up with the reason giving the illusion of free will

[QUOTE="erc500"][QUOTE="rinkegekido2110"]

We obviously know that free will exists, we just aren't sure how it does. If scientists keep looking, we'll eventually have an answer.

rinkegekido2110

We don't know that free will exists. Infact, it seems much more likely that science will eventually support the idea of a lack of free will. I, for one, don't know the answer but it would be awfully egotistical of me to assume that i am above the influence of the forces that control the interactions of the base particles that make me up

All observations so far support the existance of free will. Eventually, we'll know for sure. I'm currently leaning on it being true, but if some evidence comes along that says otherwise, I'll change my mind. That's generally how science works.

Fair enough.

The fact that we are made up of the same atoms that make up everything else and those atoms are not exempt from the laws of physics that the rest obey leads me to the the conclusion that all actions could very well be just the playing out of complex relationships between forces. These days we know that things like electrons behave as both waves and particles and that their behaviour is random. I'm not saying all actions are random, but that the basic elements that make us up behave randomly so how can we be sure that our actions are not also just the larger scale representation of these random interactions between particles

What observations do you know of that support free will? I am interested to know if i am behind the times

We obviously know that free will exists, we just aren't sure how it does. If scientists keep looking, we'll eventually have an answer.

rinkegekido2110

We don't know that free will exists. Infact, it seems much more likely that science will eventually support the idea of a lack of free will. I, for one, don't know the answer but it would be awfully egotistical of me to assume that i am above the influence of the forces that control the interactions of the base particles that make me up

Right now just the Silmarillion. Its totally sweet, my 2nd timeWitchsight

Nice, it's a great book.

Have you read the Children of Hurin? I'm half way through it and it is really good. Expands the Turin story very well

^
Well, I think they "evolved" (meaning changed over time). But we're talking about the theory of evolution - simple organisms evolved into complex beings, all living creatures had a common ancestor, fish evolved into amphibians,.. ed!t like that

Revinh

No no no. Evolution does no mean simple organisms becoming complex over time. Evolution is a change in the gene pool of a population over time

The Bible has been proven accurate again and again and again by historical and archeaological discoveries. . .

Dracargen

Where is the evidence from these discoveries?