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Reply to: Does science make life meaningless

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<blockquote>Duane wrote:

About free will -- have you heard of solipsism?&nbsp; From Wikipedia: 
 
"Solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one's mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure; the external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist outside the mind." 
 
In other words, there's no way we can't prove that we're not just a brain in a vat in a lab somewhere.&nbsp;&nbsp; But the question then is, so what?&nbsp; We must live our lives trusting that we are interacting with a real universe around us.&nbsp;&nbsp; Were we to live as if we were a brain in a vat, we wouldn't survive.&nbsp;&nbsp;

To me, same goes for free will.&nbsp;&nbsp; It may well be the case that various factors conspire to make each successive action entirely predictable.&nbsp;&nbsp; But I think it's safe to say we all must behave as if we have free will.&nbsp;&nbsp; I can't think of anything about my life that this hypothesis changes. 
 
So it's an interesting thought experiment, but practically speaking, I wouldn't rely on it to influence my life in the slightest, even if my choices really are an illusion. 
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