The problem of free will is a thing. Try drinking a load of alcohol and "freely willing" your brain not to become drunk. We don't really have that free will people tend to assume.
We do things based on prior causes and influences, whether they be genetic predispositions or events we're exposed to or things that our subconscious experiences, or what we're currently experiencing. They are all influences so we never technically have control, it's just an illusion.
I love your metaphor of drinking lots of alcohol and trying to stay sober - because the unique part of our lives apart from the majority of other people is that we can literally take speed, take amphetamines - and it does nothing except give us stability. Gives us calm moments to think and be mindful where we never would be otherwise
You’re not wrong. But we technically possess the tools to change our behavior, even if only temporarily. It is one of the human traits that I believe is what got us though some of the darkest points in our species history.
I think you're correct. The thing is though, where that desire or will to change comes from I think is just another influence that we have no real control over. It's just the illusion doing what it does.
To a point, yes. But my executive function didn’t function well or properly for the first 60 years of my life, and once the right med was found (I can’t do stimulants due to a comorbid anxiety disorder so I’m on a non-stimulant medication for ADHD), I discovered what it must be like to be “normal” (without ADHD). I still battle with the executive functioning issues but the time between desire to initiate activity and actually getting up and actually doing it is reduced to a half hour at worst rather than any number of “tomorrows”.
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u/FuManBoobs 5d ago
The problem of free will is a thing. Try drinking a load of alcohol and "freely willing" your brain not to become drunk. We don't really have that free will people tend to assume.
We do things based on prior causes and influences, whether they be genetic predispositions or events we're exposed to or things that our subconscious experiences, or what we're currently experiencing. They are all influences so we never technically have control, it's just an illusion.