Think for yourself

I’ve found free will! It’s hard to imagine this sentence starting a blog entry, but I had, indeed, found it!

Let’s start by taking science into consideration. According to our biology, we have no free will. We simply walk around, reacting certain ways to certain things. We think we are making choices for ourselves, but it is our experience that drives our decisions. When you are asked a yes or no question, you usually speak the truth.

Are you alive?

Yes.

However, based on who is asking the question, under what situation, and from past experience, you could answer with a lie.

You get shot by a rather dim-witted person.

Are you alive?

No.

Well, alright.

See? It was not your will that made you say no, but your experience. Obviously, this is not the best example, but it will do. Let’s try not to focus on why we don’t have individual free will, and try to get back on the real topic.

As you may have noted from the last sentence, I said “individual” free will. What I’m implying is that you do not have a will of your own, you only gain free will in groups.

Many times, police, governments, even normal citizens have noticed that people are calm, collected, and predictable when they are alone. However, you group a bunch of them together, and you get an unpredictable bunch, where anything can happen. It takes a large group of people to cause this, which is why it usually only happens with angry mobs or soccer riots, it is nearly impossible to get that many people organized, much less for the same cause. However, in that brief moment where all of those people are together, there is free will. You are no longer acting on previous experience, the group, as a whole is deciding things instantly, without thinking about the before or after. Where else do you see free will? Where else do you see this strange behavior, the unpredictability, the large group of people, acting without relying on the past or thinking about the future? I present to you, exhibit B, the internet.

That’s right. Apart from mobs, riots, or anything similar, the internet is the only thing that can generate free will. While you are online, you have the potential to meet thousands of people, within minutes, all of which will effect you differently. This already has an impact on you and your daily life. What you don’t see, however, is that you are on the borderline of free will while you are online, interacting with these people. The internet is the largest gathering of people mankind has ever known. And we all know people evolve better in groups.

We started off alone, not knowing what to do. We formed tribes, giving a bit of order, and slight unpredictability. As technology grew more advanced, people combined into larger groups, becoming more willed, and more intelligent. It only makes sense that this trend would continue. It is only a matter of time before we all join together, thinking as one. That is the point in time when our free will shall emerge. That point is when we will all think for ourselves, and no longer rely purely on the past to predict our future, when we will begin to make decisions immediately, without waiting to see what might happen, and without the brain preparing ourselves, and the world around us for our eventual response.

That is free will.