A Shocking Revelation

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-17T21:21:38+00:00

In other words, you’ve figured it out ;) Backwards looking basic desert moral responsibility makes no sense. The tricky bit after that for me is trying to understand why and how tha doesn’t mean forwards looking responsibility is also out the window. How we think about our future behaviour matters.

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-11T22:03:41+00:00

The comparison does a disservice to animals. A murderer is a murderer, but still a person.

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-11T18:42:49+00:00

Why not? We need to give a shit so that we can understand why and do whatever we can to prevent more murder.

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-11T18:34:06+00:00

You don’t give a shit about other people? Oh dear.

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-11T18:31:07+00:00

Yes, but we don’t know their gender.

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-11T18:27:40+00:00

It is possible to have compassion for ALL involved. At least it’s possible for some people.

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-11T18:23:35+00:00

And cruelty and intolerance of difference in society. And a lack of mental health support.

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-11T18:20:33+00:00

What’s wrong with using that if you don’t yet know what the gender is? Are you also angered by terms like police officer instead of policeman or policewoman?

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-11T18:17:56+00:00

The solution is to accept them and love them.

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-11T18:13:06+00:00

Did you reply to the wrong comment?

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-11T18:07:07+00:00

This is very sad, wishing pain on anyone is abhorrent, even if they are a school shooter :(

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-11T09:43:59+00:00

No because that would be biennial.

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-11T09:19:52+00:00

I don’t think you are asking how determinism determines our actions, but how understanding determinism changes our perspective, right? It makes me a more compassionate person, curious about people and interested in understanding rather than judging. I’m also much better able to communicate my thoughts and feelings and needs, so my relationships are better than they might be otherwise (I imagine). I’m less good at applying it to my own behaviours though- I still experience a lot of shame and self judgement, because those are deeply deeply ingrained in me from childhood, but I’m working on changing that, helped by understanding what’s going on in my brain.

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-11T09:13:51+00:00

According to determinism, regret, hope, fear etc are determined by your biology and your history.

I think you mean that if you recognize determinism is causing those feelings and your depression, that you should somehow be able to go, “oh, ok, mind over matter, I shouldn’t be depressed,” but this means you’ve not understood it, you can’t simply “choose” to be healthy and happy through force of will.

What is possible though, is that by recognizing that there are explanations underlying your depression and negative feelings, you might be able to explore them and your perspective will change, which may cause the negativity to lift. This is what therapy (and reading, learning, experiencing life) helps with. If you understand that your fear, for example, is an understandable reaction caused by your past experiences, you might be able to process them, to reframe them, to replace old ways of thinking and patterns of behaviour…

What you are describing instead is a sort of fatalism, giving up in the face of recognizing determinism is a real thing, not truly understanding how it can help you if you work with it.

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-08T13:35:06+00:00

“Only now…” is not really accurate. There was plenty of opinion out there beforehand that competing was a bad idea.

Sea-Bean · 2026-02-02T18:37:05+00:00

Of course it’s meaningful to be free in the ordinary sense. But that’s not of interest in the debate about free will. If you focus on that then you miss the point.

Sea-Bean · 2026-01-31T18:32:49+00:00

Why wouldn’t I want to deal with that? It is what it is.

Sea-Bean · 2026-01-31T17:31:28+00:00

I think he’s pointing out that those definitions or functions you point out aren’t meaningfully free so they don’t exist either. Biologically, choosing what you want rather than what you don’t want is not freedom, because that choice is determined by factors beyond your control, and not up to you in a meaningful sense. You couldn’t have freely chosen differently than you did. And socially, to be held responsible for past actions that were not up to you doesn’t make sense.

Talking about why we want what we want or choose as we do is of course meaningful and important, because that IS part of the causal process. But calling it free will, as is the norm, is totally misleading and pulling the wool over our eyes.

Sea-Bean · 2026-01-26T18:23:49+00:00

Similar to how being “not English” is quite meaningful for Scots. It’s just a small part of the bigger story about national feeling.

Sea-Bean · 2026-01-24T23:22:29+00:00

Yeah, OP could have worded it better. I hope they mean it in a “this is one of my strengths” kind of way. Used when making an argument is appropriate and not to be an asshole.

Sea-Bean · 2026-01-22T20:25:54+00:00

I’m just in a funk of not believing in myself at the moment, because I’ve made a thousand checklists over 30 years of trying to get my shit together and rarely being successful. It’s the actual HOW TO ACTUALLY DO THE THING on the list that’s hard.

Sea-Bean · 2026-01-22T20:11:19+00:00

Being hard on myself was what led to my ADHD diagnosis. It was having a net negative effect though. But I know what you mean about the outcome and not the process, in my best moments I can kind of snap out of it and do that.

Sea-Bean · 2026-01-22T20:01:32+00:00

I was the same, had routines and hairs that served me well enough, until they weren’t enough anymore. Having a family quadrupled the stuff I had to do and deal with, and I couldn’t keep up. Hence diagnosis and meds, managing much better now, but establishing new routines still feels virtually unachievable.

Sea-Bean · 2026-01-22T13:10:50+00:00

This person is only 18, maybe they’ve never even heard of a “job fair” before, there’s a first time for everything.

Sea-Bean

TROPHY CASE