"Free will?" WTF?

[ZackT]

You know, I've thought about that before too. The idea that we aren't completely in control of our lives like we may think we are, but we're actually just reacting to everyone else and everything else. But then I continue on that line of thinking and say that everyone is reacting to everyone else's reactions. Which makes you question, who or what is really in control of anyone or anything?

And in that line of thinking, I believe the answer would be no one and nothing. Nature and people just react to each other and we think we're so awesome because we can put some thought in to our reactions, but really we're just doing random stuff.

I dunno. There's a lot of stuff in life we have no control over that we are forced to just react to. And I agree that plenty of stuff can be traced down to our genetics. I have a predisposition for addiction, apparently inherited from my dad. So maybe that's why I ended up being so addicted to playing games (specifically World of Warcraft). After all, it's REALLY REALLY HARD for me to ignore the impulse to play, even when I know I have more pressing matters to tend to.

I AM capable of doing other things even when I want to just play my game, but unless it's terribly important, I try to put it off until the very last minute or perhaps not do it at all. I suppose it's an example of me not having a free will, but rather just doing what I feel compelled to do.

But I still maintain that because I am capable of going against my "natural" disposition, that is where we find our free will. The world's so big, everything is a reaction to something whether we know it or not. But we have the choice on how we react, even when we limit ourselves to certain choices.