Your assignment is not to argue that free will is compatible with determinism, or not. This gave me the impression that the solution didn´t care about whether the universe is deterministic or not.
I believe the point of this meditation was more of getting to “I think I have free will because I have this planning algorithm running inside me and it feels like there are multiple choices which are reachable from where I currently am”.
The determinism of the universe is necessary for the whole explanation, but it doesn’t particularly pertain to why you feel you have free will in the first place.
This argument will illustrate why I feel like not having resolved the question...
It seems like you still have the idea that you should be able to influence the universe from outside the laws of physics, if you had free will. Like there being two distinct causes for the outcomes: You and The Rest of The Universe. Working together to bring about the future.
But since you are within physics the fact that physics uniquely determined the outcome, this does not mean that you yourself had no influence on the outcome.
Or maybe this link on compatibilism offers you a better explanation .
This didn´t help me though but thanks for trying. I understand that I myself is a cause and that my choices are the effects of that cause. And I also understand the argument that “myself” is something created of many things outside of myself, in harmony with the laws of physics. My argument for destiny still stands though. If determinism is how you explain choice and will (free will is just a pointless word I think) I understand that. But then you have to agree that my argument is valid right?
This was bound to happen, and even if it wasn´t, there was nothing anyone could do about it anyway, since the universe made this situation up.
Meaning that what anyone actually did about something was predetermined by many factors that we don´t know all of.
I believe the point of this meditation was more of getting to “I think I have free will because I have this planning algorithm running inside me and it feels like there are multiple choices which are reachable from where I currently am”.
The determinism of the universe is necessary for the whole explanation, but it doesn’t particularly pertain to why you feel you have free will in the first place.
It seems like you still have the idea that you should be able to influence the universe from outside the laws of physics, if you had free will. Like there being two distinct causes for the outcomes: You and The Rest of The Universe. Working together to bring about the future.
But since you are within physics the fact that physics uniquely determined the outcome, this does not mean that you yourself had no influence on the outcome.
Or maybe this link on compatibilism offers you a better explanation .
This didn´t help me though but thanks for trying. I understand that I myself is a cause and that my choices are the effects of that cause. And I also understand the argument that “myself” is something created of many things outside of myself, in harmony with the laws of physics. My argument for destiny still stands though. If determinism is how you explain choice and will (free will is just a pointless word I think) I understand that. But then you have to agree that my argument is valid right?
Meaning that what anyone actually did about something was predetermined by many factors that we don´t know all of.