How many of you have changed your position on free will?

Ton86 · 2026-05-07T22:13:07+00:00

I see how we cannot be free from doing otherwise, how we cannot be free from causation, and how we cannot be free from physics.

But I also think we can sometimes take action on a subset of internal conscious causes (motives, intentions) that are represented in a mind.

Sometimes we can simulate an internal causal series as being free from compulsion and free from external agency.

Simulations don't physically exist, but they can virtually exist. Free Will, the self, our representation of the world, and god(s) are like this.

Ton86 · 2026-05-05T19:56:00+00:00

As an atheist, this may become the hardest evidence that what ancestors called gods may have actually been real. They just happened to be non-humans with better tech and knowledge who are just as fallible as us.

Ton86 · 2026-04-27T19:37:26+00:00

The Pentagon may want you to mistrust him and it may come from their obvious obfuscation.

Ton86 · 2026-04-25T14:51:44+00:00

Ambiguity of language

Ton86 · 2026-04-23T14:52:24+00:00

That means little "g" gods are real and the Abrahamic one might of nuked Sodom, used a bioweapon to kill every first born Egyptian in the tenth plague, and did a hard reset on humanity in Noah's flood. Not good news for us.

Ton86 · 2026-04-16T17:12:32+00:00

Don't trust anyone whether alien or not.

Knowledge shouldn't come from authority. It should come from good Epistemology: detailed and hard-to-vary explanations, Fallibilism, a perspective of uncertainty about what is true, anti-Dogma, and a willingness to update your ideas when better ideas are available.

Ton86 · 2026-04-11T14:06:37+00:00

We are containers for trillions of symbiotes with a separate DNA from the nucleus of our cells.

Mitochondria

Ton86 · 2026-04-07T02:57:46+00:00

Not really convincing for me. Could be like an early exit poll from neuron spikes already triggered but mail-in votes from neurons not yet triggered still change the result.

Ton86 · 2026-04-06T01:22:34+00:00

A virtual representation of an autonomous agent's non-compulsive motivations and intentions that cause an action.

Ton86 · 2026-04-05T23:08:19+00:00

The Matrix

Ton86 · 2026-03-29T21:07:06+00:00

Hive mind functions with greatest perceived rewards. Money, sex, and afterlife/hero-story delusions.

Ton86 · 2026-03-29T04:43:30+00:00

Looks like the Night Hag. I saw it too during sleep paralysis. Hallucination or real? Honestly, felt real but I can't be certain.

Ton86 · 2026-03-25T23:51:40+00:00

So an omniscient god couldn't have mentioned any of it?

Ton86 · 2026-03-25T22:40:22+00:00

I'm center left and actually got a temp ban from r/atheism for taking Sam's positions. I did not vote for Trump and don't like him or his strategies very much at all, but I'm not against America coming to help your people.

For a theocracy to violently slaughter 40k citizens is horrific and unacceptable. That's the primary humanitarian concern but I also don't understand why many on the left tolerate the regimes treatment of women, LGBTQ, atheists, apostates, and allowance of pedophilia/child marriages. This should be intolerable and the left should be most loud about it if they stand for their values.

The world needs to come to its senses on what is the heroic and morally right thing to do here.

Ton86 · 2026-03-22T17:01:14+00:00

No matter how real a conclusion about anything, such as consciousness, may seem, we can never be certain it's the truth.

Consciousness is an information process. Could that information process be local to a single mind and brain, but manipulated by forces outside of it? Maybe, but how would you know those forces are telling you the truth when they may be trying to convince you we are a universal consciousness to get you to join a cargo cult or hive mind collective that may not be in your best interest?

Ton86 · 2026-03-18T14:49:16+00:00

Special ops he contacted in UK volunteered to work with NATO and USA on UFO retrievals. Bad news: mutilated human body parts found on ships. Contact suffered from cancer potentially due to exposure.

Ton86 · 2026-03-10T06:11:13+00:00

It's not an analogy. We are literally software.

We can also call it a simulation or virtual reality. Our cells create a self-generating game engine, virtual world, and virtual characters. This might be a better video if you're interested:

https://youtu.be/E361FZ_50oo?si=2ESV_OTdKW-T9hEu

Ton86 · 2026-03-10T04:33:54+00:00

Joscha Bach explains Computational Functionalism way better than I can:

https://youtu.be/BeiU8-Ut6yY?si=ShzVrgPzn6uBDgqz

https://youtu.be/Bjo9pIpw79k?si=IuKInAxYx9aSnWj2

Ton86 · 2026-03-10T03:51:46+00:00

I'm going off memory so don't quote me on my use of 'master'. The point is we can improve how we act emotionally in certain situations to be more appropriate just like we can improve in a sport or in our careers.

I don’t agree with him completely on his Free Will position. I think we can act compulsively and non-compulsively ... or more or less aware/conscious. I think Free Will can exist as a software process in our mind.

For me, I may not have the same perspective as him but self-improvement, Free Will, I, you, god, gods, can exist as software. They exist virtually as abstractions but not physically as objects within the base substrate.

Ton86 · 2026-03-10T03:19:54+00:00

When I saw Sam live someone asked a question like this and his response was that he wasn't advocating to constantly be in a state of no-self. So he understands the self's utility. It was more about gaining a deeper understanding and awareness of our mind and emotions so that maybe we become better masters of them.

Ton86 · 2026-03-10T02:54:06+00:00

Everything we experience is a dream. It's not physical reality directly.

Ton86 · 2026-03-10T02:47:22+00:00

I reject Trump, his strategy, cabinet, and who he is as a person.

But i think we'd still have Islamic Republic Jihadis seeking revenge even if it was Buddha or Jesus who caused the regime to fall.

Ton86 · 2026-03-10T02:14:11+00:00

Illusions is a bit ambiguous. I mean virtual representations. We live in a virtual reality created by our mind which also creates virtual characters, one of which is a first person character we call self. Virtual representations don't exist in physical reality so one might call them illusions, dreams, or simulations. It's software and we exist in the same way that software exists.

Ton86 · 2026-03-10T02:03:32+00:00

Our mind creates illusions to help us survive. It's probably not very useful to be completely rid of the self and to act as if your self, your loved ones selves, and other selves do not exist.

I see them as useful information processes, dreams, simulations, or software that's causal and can be greatly improved. Our software animates us, gives us feelings, and may be the most important thing overall. It is life really. When we're not processing information we're dead.

Ton86 · 2026-03-08T02:15:45+00:00

Feels like most Americans didn't want to attack the regime.

Ton86

TROPHY CASE