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Free will, regardless of where one believes it comes from, is not a black and white issue, it's definitely shades of grey. We here in the US, and other western countries have more free will than perhaps others, but no one has 100% free will, nor is anyone delegated to 0% freewill without their consent, adults anyways.I recently had a discussion with a fellow atheist about Sam Harris' book Free Will and I was taken aback by just how hostile my colleague was to the idea that Free Will might be an illusion. I have come to believe that we do live in a deterministic universe and it seems to me the the benefits of thinking this way far out weigh the feelings of desperation my friend so afraid of.
With this in mind I am curious how others feel about this subject.
I welcome people of all creeds to chime in.
If you are an atheist, is this an idea that you have concerned yourself with? Do you find evidence in support of Free Will?
If you are a believer of some shade, do you feel that the loss of free will threatens your belief system or is there some way to reconcile the two? Remember I am asking a hypothetical here, if you suddenly found out beyond any shadow of a doubt that free will is an illusion would you still maintain your faith? On that note is free will something you take on faith?
For anyone, if society as a whole were to adopt this philosophy what benefits do you think we would enjoy? What negative consequences? (ie how would it impact our daily lives? Our system of laws?)
I am not attempting to start a religious debate here, I hope we can talk about free will on its own terms.