Free Will vs Determinism

Free Will vs Determinism is a debate that is as old as the hills.
Many of us have heard of the phrase: "our lives are the sum of our choices." But are these choices really our own???

In this meeting, we will be discussing how these choices are viewed through the lenses of Free Will & Determinism.

• Proponents of Free Will believes that changes and decision making comes from the person's own choices, free of causal constraints.
• Proponents of Determinism believes that our decisions are causally determined.

Articles & Videos:

• The Libet Experiment & Question of Free Will: https://sproutsschools.com/libet-experiment-do-we-have-free-will/
• Do We Have Free Will? with Robert Sapolsky & Neil deGrasse Tyson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFg1ysJ1oUs
• Daniel Dennett - What is Free Will?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hUvEOcIqC0
• Do We Have Freewill? / Daniel Dennett VS Robert Sapolsky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYzFH8xqhns

Questions:
1. How do you define Free Will?
2. What evidence, if any, do we have for free will?
3. How do you define Determinism?
4. What evidence, if any, do we have for determinism?
5. Which of the two viewpoints is more likely to be the reality?
6. Is Compatibilism a realistic approach?
7. Where does free will come from?
8. Do only humans have free will?
9. Can we ever escape the chains of causality?
10. Do societies thrive better within the frameworks of Free Will or Determinism?
11 . How the justice system view free will & determinism?
12. What can we say about recidivism in either framework?
13. What are the ethical implications of believing in or denying free will?
14. Is human nature (genes) more dominant in decision making or is it our environment (nature/nurture)?
15. Can everything be predicted or are there randomness in the universe or it's both?
16. Are people be more forgiving in either of these two worldviews?
17. How does the viewpoints between free will and determinism impact our sense of self and our relationships with others?
18. Would knowing whether the universe is deterministic or not change the way we live our lives?

Guidelines:

• Hand raises are required.
• There will be a 3 minute timer for every person. However, in this group, I do allow a brief back and fourth interjection from others if it's something that's related to the person who was just speaking. This is a way to prevent the group from feeling too "robotic" in style and get your pressing question asked to the speaker and get the answer right away without waiting all the way back to your turn again.
• Be authentic & civil!
• Please refrain from using Ad Hominem (personal) attacks. Instead, please attack the points from others.
• Severe Ad Hominem such as racist behavior will result in being removed from the meeting.

Zoom link will be posted 10 minutes before the meeting.