Man has the ability to exercise free will

Hello, In actuality, what is later discovered to be invalid was in fact invalid from the start, but this is irrelevant. Instinct and what you perceive to be "rational thought" (but what is really just extremely complex cause and effect which appear to be rational) are deeply intermingled. No, you either did do as I proposed, or you didn't, and to the fortune of your co-workers you did the latter. It is not as if you "could" have done something else. At the time, I could not predict the future (My mind did not know all the variables), and thus was not positive which crossroad events would inevitably take, and it may have been perceived by some, that it was random, or that events chose the crossroad. But now, that we can look back to the past (based on memory) and observe the outcome, we can reasonably conclude that the equation could only add up to your un-compliance with my friendly suggestion. Let me explain this mathematically: We will use a simple equation for this experiment, quite unlike the complex equations of the mind. The equation is: 2+3. We, in this context, know all variables involved: 2 and 3. Using our knowledge of all the variables in question, and our mind's amazing computing ability, we can predict the future and say it will equal 5. This is a much simplified version, however. In reality, being the humans with oh so limited minds; we would NOT know all the variables. Let's say that we only knew the existence of 2. We would not know what all variables might be included, so estimates of the results could be any figure. We cannot predict the outcome with the limited info. After the thing itself happened, and we observed that it was 5 that ended up happening, we know that it could not have been anything else that was the answer, for 2+3, despite your philosophies WILL ALWAYS equal 5. According to your ideas, 2+3, could "choose" to equal 7, or 10, or 23,476,353,658,346. This is obviously untrue. Series of events, in actuality follow one path, there are no crossroads; the crossroads are just illusions. And this is the easiest answer to the question of free will, and we may conclude that free-will does not exist. The mind does not control math. Math is undisputable. You cannot deny the logic I have provided above. To answer your question, 2 and 3 force you to choose something. The matter of free-will is not about forcing to do something against your will; it is about forcing your will to do whatever. It makes you "choose" what you choose. I have proved that the mind is not infinite, but 2+3 cannot equal an infinite amount of things, it can only equal one thing. If it was infinite, my mind could control the universe (and trust me, if I controlled the universe, things would be a lot more amusing). The computer is indeed a good analogy for the brain, because the computer, like the brain, has no free will. Your analogy seems to agree with my side. Anyways, I suppose it would be "possible", as in we don't know for sure any variables that deny it, but I strongly doubt that the equation of events will equal humans building such a computer. There are many variables including even such things as the human race being wiped out before we reached the level of technology. AS for your differentiation between Humans and other animals, I say: a brain is a brain, brains don't have freewill. Look at this article: http://www.apa.org... It shows how similar human and chimpanzee brains are. You earlier proposed a sort of "micro evolution", evolution takes millions of years, Fred. So we can reasonably look back…6 thousand years and conclude that human's brains are not dissimilar from humans. Infants born and raised today constantly are raised in the environment of the information age. The minds of 6 thousand years ago, which we can conclude are basically the same as now, lived as animals, so I do not see your connection. Fred, I am dearly sorry, but I can not explain to you all the variables involved in the decisions and psychological processes of gamblers, and drunkards. You keep asking for a simple explanation of why the gambler does something, and someone else does another thing, but I can't give a simple explanation of these processes. Those statements do not necessarily disagree with my arguments. Brain tissue can change shape. You CANT defy nature, Fred. Nature is to broad a sense. Nature is simply the nature of how things are, how they work and why they exist in such a form. You're brain cells do not choose in what direction they go, or how they multiply. You drastically misunderstood my last paragraph (not your fault, just the confusion of limited man-made language). I was not complaining that you were asking "why" to much, I was complaining that you WERE NOT asking "why" enough, I think that you are not asking "Why" enough. I want you to ask "why" more. Does it make sense to you now? -Harlan