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Scientist, after decades of study, concludes: We don't have free will (phys.org)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/science@beehaw.org
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[–] 8 points 2 years ago (5 children)

If someone kills a bunch of people no amount of philosophical quibbling and defining is going to make me think that person should be allowed to continue living in society, justice simply couldn’t be a concept at all in the absence of some form of free will

Wouldn't it require an act of free will to decide that the murderer had no free will and therefore shouldn't be jailed? If we have no free will and are always acting in response to that complex array of dominos, then the judge and jury sending the murderer to prison have the same amount of choice as the murderer.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    That would be correct, the judge and jury have no more choice than the murderer, which is none. Hypothetically, the appearance of choice doesn't mean there is choice or free will. As a slightly tortured analogy, like "perfect" loaded dice, which appear that they could be anything but always give the same result.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago* (2 children)

    If you don't know any math and I explain you why 1 + 1 = 2 and you get it, it's not because you decided to understand. You helplessly did so and you can't unlearn it anymore. There's no free will in that.

    This same applies to the judge and jury. If they truly understand the illusion of free will it will have an affect on how they relate to other people. You simply cannot blame them for their actions the same way once the illusion is broken. It's like knowing the stove is hot and still touching it. You can do it but you'll get burned and no matter of how hard you want to believe it's cold it just isn't and every attempt to live your life like it is just results in you getting burned again and again.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    I think breaking the illusion would remove the concept of "blame" or vindictiveness from the judicial system, but not punishment. If a cog is broken in your watch, you remove it and get it fixed. You don't remove it as punishment because the cog chose to misbehave, you do it because it's necessary to get a fully working clock. Bringing it back to the court example, you put them in jail, not as punishment, but to protect society, rehabilitate, and/or set an example for others.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    I feel like the level of mass education about the lack of free will required to make sure all judges and juries understand that murderers have no free will, would probably end up educating a lot of people with violent tendencies that they have no free will too - and if free will does exist, they now have an excuse not to even try to control themselves. Which the article did note has been observed in other studies.

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