RESOLVED: Free Will Does Not Exist

I would like to first note that my opponent provided no contentions of his own, so this debate will revolve around my one contention and its two sub-points. I also thank my opponent for accepting my definitions and observations, as a debate on semantics is never a fun one. :) A. Humans act based on primal needs. My opponent concedes the fact that humans act based on primal needs. I will address his point on choice within our needs, but I would like to note that he does not provide any examples or reasoning to how a person would make a choice that defied our own needs. The reason rape is not ubiquitous is because that humans naturally conform to societies will, as their peers would look down upon said action. Also, a human wants to preserve his own life, and raping would violate the safety of his own life because of the consequences of illegal actions. Also, females are usually attainable. This means that the action of rape is already predetermined to be a "wrong" choice, and thus the reason rape is not ubiquitous is because of external forces, and the fact that free will does not exist. You bring up the choice of restaurant, stating that to meet our need of food we have the choice to go to any restaurant. This is false. The choice of restaurant stems from our need of food, but there are many other subtle external forces at work. Location already narrows are decision to few options. Preexisting preferences also subconsciously affect our decision. The food you have eaten in the past also impacts your decision. In reality, it is not a decision at all, and is only the product of external forces depicting your actions. Society and morality are products of external forces, because naturally humans tend to kill each other in the pursuit of our needs and competition. Society and morality were necessary to insure the overall survival of humanity, so they were incorporated due to said need. Also, intelligence brought a new formula into the equation, cooperation. Tribes soon formed, all due to the need to survive. B. Fate decides all human actions. A choice is the act of deciding. By definition, a choice is an action itself. Therefore we must look at each choice as a single action, a single action that has been determined from the past and will determine the future. Just because all actions have equal reactions does not necessitate that their are two choices. The choice is already predetermined, and so the reaction is already predetermined as well. These reactions, or consequences, in no way make the action a choice, but rather further prove that the action, or choice, itself was predetermined, because these consequences would subconsciously weigh the decision in one sides favor without your own consent. The reason society advanced and the reason why people do not hunt with sticks and live in grass huts is because these things necessitated their own advancement. Humanity became more advanced genetically for our own survival. This brought newfound intelligence. With this intelligence, humans became able to cooperate. This cooperation led to tribes, or otherwise society. Now how does this negate free will? Our own needs mandated these advancements. Cooperation insured survival more so than the current methods of being used. The choice to create communities was predetermined by the fact that humans need to survive, and communities insure the greater good for each individual. Again, you provide examples such as why we hunt with guns instead of our hands, or why we cook our food instead of eating it raw, or why we live in houses, but in reality all of these choices are already made. We have to choose the one that betters us. This is because our needs don't just need to be met, but met to the greatest degree possible. If I had any of the aforementioned choices to make, the decision would be already made. I could ponder and think all I wanted, but in the end the decision was already made. I would choose based on which one helped me the most, and those are obvious within each aforementioned decision. So, in the end, every single action is derived from previous actions, and therefore free will does not exist.