All of your choices are influenced by prior causes
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Everything that makes you "you" comes from forces and conditions that you had no control over. You didn't decide to be born. You didn't decide to whom you born. You didn't decide to be male, to be a certain body type, have a certain level of intelligence, etc
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Everything that makes you "you" comes from causal factors you had nothing to do with
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I like how both of you are basically saying the exact same thing but are acting like you're disagreeing.
Yes, what causes you to be "you" are all causal factors out of your control. But it's still "you" making the decisions; even if you're predetermined.
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Everything makes "decisions". Ants decide to go this way instead of that. A deer decides to run instead of not. And, so on. There is no "you" inside the body that is controlling the operation. All "decisions" are determined by preceding causal factors.
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Why did you suddenly change the definition of "you"?
Yes, there is a "you" inside me. "I" am the combination of my personality, my experiences, my intelligence etc.
Whether or not those things are predetermined is irrelevant to the fact they result in something that I call "me"
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Where is this "you" located? Neuroscientists the world over would like to see your evidence.
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I feel like you're not reading what I'm saying. Again: The "I" is the product of my personality, my experiences, my intelligence etc.
Are you implying that neuroscientists think that we don't possess a personality, intelligence, or memory? That's hilarious.
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I am not talking about some spiritual soul inside of me, I'm simply calling the product of my brain functions "I". Because this is what I experience as being "me".
There's nothing mystical about my brain functions.
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Replying to
Neuroscience can find no "you", no self, inside the brain or elsewhere. That's all I'm saying. The "I" is simply a pronoun used to facilitate narratives, communication. It's a linguistic device.
Replying to
I agree.
The "I" only exists because I define it through things that exist; aka personality, intelligence, experience.
It is not an object that you can discover... that would be nonsensical.
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And hence, everything that makes me "me" is predetermined, as my personality, experiences, and intelligence are all predetermined.
But it's still what I define to be "me". And this "me" is still making decisions, whether they're predetermined or not.
I told ya, we agree.