Reply #25: The first part [View All]

of your post is accurate and on target. We are an organic machine, and the genetic helps create the environment, generation upon generation.

The part about sexual identity is not a valid factor in determining if "free will" is real, or even a potential. It's part of the machine's identity, no more or less so than how tall we are, or what color our eyes are.

Likewise, the example a couple posts up, regarding the brain tumor, is not of much value in the debate. The relationship between brain tumors and pedophilia is almost nonexistant. Most adults who prey upon children do not have brain tumors, nor do most people with brain tumors prey upon children. Rather, it is a sick behavior that is most often associated with childhood abuse. The fact that many people victimized as children do not offend as adults is rather clear evidence of free will.

There are a number of schools of thought that believe that frre will is a human potential, accessed by conscious evolution. These include, but are not limited to, Piotr Demianovich Ouspensky and Viktor Frankl. I find their works worthy of conscious consideration.