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The topic for unhappiness/vent your sorrow

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  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    WIll power is largely a myth. How you think has far more to do with genetics than intent.
    Son_of_Imoen
  • Son_of_ImoenSon_of_Imoen Member Posts: 1,806
    In my opinion who you are, what you think, what you choose is the product of genetics times upbringing/social background times environmental factors. It's quite arbitrary to call the outcome of it one's own 'free will' as you neither choose what you think nor choose what you want or desire.
    SkatanBalrog99mlneveseArvia
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352
    Ah, determinism. Now that's a topic in itself.
    mlnevese
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    edited October 2019
    Our thoughts are just electrical impulses going through the brain. No matter how hard you will yourself, you cannot change the physiology of your mind. If your brain works a certain way, that's it. You cannot change it.

    On another note, got back from the doctor with some new medicine for my eyes. Its definitely stronger. Since using it, I can taste medicine in the back of my throat. They are eyedrops.
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,367
    ThacoBell wrote: »
    Our thoughts are just electrical impulses going through the brain. No matter how hard you will yourself, you cannot change the physiology of your mind. If your brain works a certain way, that's it. You cannot change it.

    On another note, got back from the doctor with some new medicine for my eyes. Its definitely stronger. Since using it, I can taste medicine in the back of my throat. They are eyedrops.

    If that first paragraph is true then nobody is responsible for their actions. It's just an uncontrollable electrical impulse that made Ted Bundy kill all those girls. There is no better defense for the death penalty if that's the case. Why allow people with 0 impulse control access to society? Worse yet, why allow them to breed???
  • ArdanisArdanis Member Posts: 1,736
    Balrog99 wrote: »
    There is no better defense for the death penalty if that's the case. Why allow people with 0 impulse control access to society? Worse yet, why allow them to breed???
    Technically, it's also just uncontrollable electric impulses in our brains that make us imprison or execute serious offenders.
    Balrog99semiticgoddessmlnevese
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,367
    Ardanis wrote: »
    Balrog99 wrote: »
    There is no better defense for the death penalty if that's the case. Why allow people with 0 impulse control access to society? Worse yet, why allow them to breed???
    Technically, it's also just uncontrollable electric impulses in our brains that make us imprison or execute serious offenders.

    The argument is that some people can control their impulses due to genetics and some can't. Sounds kind of like an argument for eugenics to me...
    mlnevese
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    Balrog99 wrote: »
    ThacoBell wrote: »
    Our thoughts are just electrical impulses going through the brain. No matter how hard you will yourself, you cannot change the physiology of your mind. If your brain works a certain way, that's it. You cannot change it.

    On another note, got back from the doctor with some new medicine for my eyes. Its definitely stronger. Since using it, I can taste medicine in the back of my throat. They are eyedrops.

    If that first paragraph is true then nobody is responsible for their actions. It's just an uncontrollable electrical impulse that made Ted Bundy kill all those girls. There is no better defense for the death penalty if that's the case. Why allow people with 0 impulse control access to society? Worse yet, why allow them to breed???

    Not impulses, how we think. Your confusing conscious action with thought patterns. A person can choose not to punch someone in the face. A depressed person CANNOT choose to be positive when their thyroid is not producing the right hormone that controls those emotions.
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,367
    semiticgod wrote: »
    I accidentally hurt my friend's feelings last night. There's not really a way to fix it, so she just needs some time apart to process things.

    What especially bothers me is that I said a different inconsiderate thing not long ago, and I said I would try to be a better friend, only to hurt her again. Accidental or no, she really needs someone she can feel truly safe with. She's incredibly sweet on the inside, even if she doesn't think it, and I want to be a source of comfort for her.

    Did you say those things to hurt her, or to help her? Being 'incredibly' sweet can also mean that she's 'incredibly' naieve. My sister is that way and I've said some inconsiderate, albeit well-meant (from my PoV) things to her also. She usually either agrees with me later, or agrees to disagree with me. She knows my intentions are never to harm her so she forgives my occasional indiscrete comments.
  • mlnevesemlnevese Member, Moderator Posts: 10,214
    The subject of what consciousness and thought actually are is quite interesting. Maybe it could be discussed in a new thread.
    Balrog99StummvonBordwehrSkatanCrevsDaak
  • Son_of_ImoenSon_of_Imoen Member Posts: 1,806
    Gallenger wrote: »
    Life has been hitting pretty hard lately. Guess I'll share.
    I'm just feeling like I'm the cartoon character that's flattened by a road roller. I mean what else could possibly go wrong? *All* of the sources of my unhappiness are caused by things beyond my control and which I am absolutely powerless to rectify. So I call out to the internet :( that's all I've really got lol.

    I'm sorry I can't say anything comforting. Being depressed myself (just like the ex-girlfriend you described) I find it hard to see something positive when lots of things go wrong. Life sucks even when things do go right. I can wish you some strength though and hope you'll be able to live through the hardships.

  • DragonKingDragonKing Member Posts: 1,977
    edited October 2019
    ...
    Post edited by DragonKing on
    StummvonBordwehrsemiticgoddess
  • xzar_montyxzar_monty Member Posts: 631
    Ardanis wrote: »
    Balrog99 wrote: »
    There is no better defense for the death penalty if that's the case. Why allow people with 0 impulse control access to society? Worse yet, why allow them to breed???
    Technically, it's also just uncontrollable electric impulses in our brains that make us imprison or execute serious offenders.

    Precisely. This comes down to the question of free will and whether it exists or not. Current neurological evidence strongly indicates that it does not: there is no free will, and there is no separate self, either. Our sense of self is nothing but an epiphenomenon.

    However, in practical terms, the whole question is meaningless, and this has been understood hundreds of years ago. It just so happens that whether we have free will or not doesn't mean anything. Our sense of having free will remains irrevocably in place even if the actual fact of it turns out to be an illusion. So, even if there is no free will, nothing changes.
    Son_of_Imoensemiticgoddess
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    xzar_monty wrote: »
    Ardanis wrote: »
    Balrog99 wrote: »
    There is no better defense for the death penalty if that's the case. Why allow people with 0 impulse control access to society? Worse yet, why allow them to breed???
    Technically, it's also just uncontrollable electric impulses in our brains that make us imprison or execute serious offenders.

    Precisely. This comes down to the question of free will and whether it exists or not. Current neurological evidence strongly indicates that it does not: there is no free will, and there is no separate self, either. Our sense of self is nothing but an epiphenomenon.

    However, in practical terms, the whole question is meaningless, and this has been understood hundreds of years ago. It just so happens that whether we have free will or not doesn't mean anything. Our sense of having free will remains irrevocably in place even if the actual fact of it turns out to be an illusion. So, even if there is no free will, nothing changes.

    If there is evidence of a lack of free will, that implies that free will can be quantified. How would one even go about doing that?
  • DrHappyAngryDrHappyAngry Member Posts: 1,577
    xzar_monty wrote: »
    Ardanis wrote: »
    Balrog99 wrote: »
    There is no better defense for the death penalty if that's the case. Why allow people with 0 impulse control access to society? Worse yet, why allow them to breed???
    Technically, it's also just uncontrollable electric impulses in our brains that make us imprison or execute serious offenders.

    Precisely. This comes down to the question of free will and whether it exists or not. Current neurological evidence strongly indicates that it does not: there is no free will, and there is no separate self, either. Our sense of self is nothing but an epiphenomenon.

    However, in practical terms, the whole question is meaningless, and this has been understood hundreds of years ago. It just so happens that whether we have free will or not doesn't mean anything. Our sense of having free will remains irrevocably in place even if the actual fact of it turns out to be an illusion. So, even if there is no free will, nothing changes.

    Hey, I believe in free will because I have no choice in the matter. ;)

    In all seriousness, why do I have to keep having to be the security guy? SecOps isn't in my title, but no matter where I work I have to be the guy saying "No, don't email passwords" or "Leaving this endpoint open without authentication leaves us open to attack" or "Quit storing private info in git repos." I spent a huge chunk of the day writing a doc to present to management about why we need to change the culture where I work because I've had enough of this crap. At least I managed to change the mindset of the teams I work with regularly awhile ago. How the hell these people haven't had their identities stolen by now is beyond me.
  • xzar_montyxzar_monty Member Posts: 631
    ThacoBell wrote: »
    xzar_monty wrote: »
    Ardanis wrote: »
    Balrog99 wrote: »
    There is no better defense for the death penalty if that's the case. Why allow people with 0 impulse control access to society? Worse yet, why allow them to breed???
    Technically, it's also just uncontrollable electric impulses in our brains that make us imprison or execute serious offenders.

    Precisely. This comes down to the question of free will and whether it exists or not. Current neurological evidence strongly indicates that it does not: there is no free will, and there is no separate self, either. Our sense of self is nothing but an epiphenomenon.

    However, in practical terms, the whole question is meaningless, and this has been understood hundreds of years ago. It just so happens that whether we have free will or not doesn't mean anything. Our sense of having free will remains irrevocably in place even if the actual fact of it turns out to be an illusion. So, even if there is no free will, nothing changes.

    If there is evidence of a lack of free will, that implies that free will can be quantified. How would one even go about doing that?

    Fair question. What is being quantified is the concept of separate self, part of which this what we regard as free will.

    When you are asked, for instance, to do something, and you decide to raise your left hand, it becomes apparent, upon close examination, that the neural impulses leading to muscular activation are already there long (relatively speaking, of course) before you are aware that you feel like raising your left hand and decide to do so. This is a fertile field of study at the moment, and while nothing is proven (even to the extent that anything at all can ever be proven outside mathematics), it is becoming increasingly apparent that we possess neither separate self nor free will.

    Within the mind, thoughts arise, and each thought carries with it the sense of an "I" who thought that thought. So the "I" is an epiphenomenon. There are thoughts, but there is no thinker, no separate entity that can be said to persist through time -- it is only that each thought carries with it the implication of someone whose thought it is.

    However, all of this lies within the realm of shall we say "consciousness studies", and that is a field that is still faced with a momentous problem: nobody has a clue of what consciousness is. We have no theory.

    (Along with consciousness, the other "blindingly obvious but actually totally mysterious" aspect of our world is time -- nobody has a clue what it is, or even if it exists at all. When you study modern physics for a bit, you may be puzzled to find that when velocity increases, time slows down. Ultimately, with photons travelling at the speed of light, this leads to the fact that time ceases to be altogether. Which in turn means that distance ceases to be. So the light coming from a distant galaxy may have, from our perspective, travelled for 5 billion years. But from the photons' perspective, crossing this distance hasn't taken any time at all, and they haven't crossed any distance, either.)
    jasteySkatan
  • ArviaArvia Member Posts: 2,101
    Guys, as fascinating as that discussion is, once it gets longer, maybe it fits better into the philosophy thread?
    ZaghoulSkatan
  • xzar_montyxzar_monty Member Posts: 631
    I did note that it was getting off-topic, so yes, agreed.
    Zaghoul
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    @xzar_monty So your somehow quantifying something that we can't even really define. Somehow, I don't think this holds much water.
  • xzar_montyxzar_monty Member Posts: 631
    edited October 2019
    I am not quantifying anything. I am paraphrasing where the study of the question is at the moment. None of that was any of my personal opinion. (The parentheses concerning time were there to highlight our ability to deal with unquantifiables. And out of respect for the topic, this is my last comment on the matter.)
    DrHappyAngry
  • DrHappyAngryDrHappyAngry Member Posts: 1,577
    ThacoBell wrote: »
    @xzar_monty So your somehow quantifying something that we can't even really define. Somehow, I don't think this holds much water.

    This is actually a well debated topic in philosophy/neuroscience at this time. Neuroscientists have observed brain activity indicating a choice has been made before the conscious part of the brain even becomes engaged, and in the majority of cases the decision made by the conscious part of the brain is irrelevant and our reaction is already determined before it comes into play. This brings into question, are we just the product of our genetics and environment and does consciousness even come into play even part of the time? This probably needs it's own topic on consciousness or should be taken to the philosophy thread. Not saying I buy that, and could keep going off on this, but it is a point of contention and this should probably be in a different thread.
    StummvonBordwehrmlnevese
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