Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - You Are NOT Responsible For Your Laziness

Adrian · 02-01-2008, 03:06 PM

Wow! I didn't realize this post would strike such a chord with people!

Keith: Your views just about match up with my views! I think you have free will in the realm of your context, and you can change the borders of / switch up the context as often as you like. (What possesses you to change contexts - free will, your context promoting that behavior, etc. - I don't know. But I think it's possible!)

Take these forums, for example. We all know what the forums are to be used for. And we all know the people who come to these forums have the power to choose their own behavior. We don't necessarily see a lot of people spamming around, making personal attacks on members, going bonkers in posts... why is that? Is it because the forums provide the context of a nurturing environment for a great discussion, or the people who post here just have a lot of restraint? The context provides you with what actions are acceptable and not acceptable to take; you then use free will to decide what actions you play out. People who want to be accepted in this context use their free will to decide on the actions to take to be a productive, supportive member of the forums; people who don't want to be accepted and want to lash out do the opposite actions.

JimOfferman: I don't know if I necessarily agree. Remember the Milgram experiment? Good people cave under pressure when they're told exactly what to do and they have no choice. It's like I said before, I think context provides you with the acceptable actions to take and incentives to take them. Free will with a twist, perhaps?

Brutha's gun in hand story is the same. Because I live in a gang-infested, poverty-stricken, pain-filled environment does not force me to choose murder as an option.

I agree, but I think the environment made the "murder" option look 90% better than the "let's all get along!" option. Nobody can force you to do anything, but they can sure change things to make deviant options seem pretty sweet!

There was a lot of interesting discussion here! Like I said, my view is you have some free will, but it exists inside of your context. You can take full responsibility and switch up your context, but ultimately your context determines what kinds of behaviors you'll take - acceptable and non-acceptable.

02-01-2008, 03:06 PM	#20 (permalink)
Adrian Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 73	Wow! I didn't realize this post would strike such a chord with people! Keith: Your views just about match up with my views! I think you have free will in the realm of your context, and you can change the borders of / switch up the context as often as you like. (What possesses you to change contexts - free will, your context promoting that behavior, etc. - I don't know. But I think it's possible!) Take these forums, for example. We all know what the forums are to be used for. And we all know the people who come to these forums have the power to choose their own behavior. We don't necessarily see a lot of people spamming around, making personal attacks on members, going bonkers in posts... why is that? Is it because the forums provide the context of a nurturing environment for a great discussion, or the people who post here just have a lot of restraint? The context provides you with what actions are acceptable and not acceptable to take; you then use free will to decide what actions you play out. People who want to be accepted in this context use their free will to decide on the actions to take to be a productive, supportive member of the forums; people who don't want to be accepted and want to lash out do the opposite actions. JimOfferman: I don't know if I necessarily agree. Remember the Milgram experiment? Good people cave under pressure when they're told exactly what to do and they have no choice. It's like I said before, I think context provides you with the acceptable actions to take and incentives to take them. Free will with a twist, perhaps? Brutha's gun in hand story is the same. Because I live in a gang-infested, poverty-stricken, pain-filled environment does not force me to choose murder as an option. I agree, but I think the environment made the "murder" option look 90% better than the "let's all get along!" option. Nobody can force you to do anything, but they can sure change things to make deviant options seem pretty sweet! There was a lot of interesting discussion here! Like I said, my view is you have some free will, but it exists inside of your context. You can take full responsibility and switch up your context, but ultimately your context determines what kinds of behaviors you'll take - acceptable and non-acceptable.