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stump

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Everything posted by stump

  1. Alright feel free to exchange the word 'emotions' for 'behaviour' the questions still stand unanswered.
  2. Yes but before she started to write, she started to want. And if you want something hard enough is there really much choice? Don't you just do everything you can to make it happen? And yes, talent isnt enough. A lot of time it requires practice, but can't the willingness to practice also be explained by genetics? That some just are hard working and patient by nature and others are not?
  3. Yes it is possible to control emotions, but the question is why is it possible. What makes it possible. Will power? Where does will power come from? Is it something we all have to various degrees? If so thats not very fair is it. And it's not up to us is it. How can we take credit for something that a) we're born with and b- wether we use it or not and to what degrees and success, again depends on our born with abilities. There's countless millions of people that struggle and fail to control their emotions. Free will doesn't help them a whole lot now does it?
  4. So how did Ayn Rand put her free will to use? If you really have a passion for something, say writing, then it really doesnt come down to a decision does it, you just do what you enjoy because, well you enjoy doing it. And that passion isn't something you figure out, it's something you either have or dont have. Same as imagination, skill for writing etc.
  5. Maybe you need your organs in the after life (if such exist)
  6. I guess you've never fallen in love then if you think it's a rational thing that you decide upon, or not. How do you know if people can choose to stop eating cake or not? How could you possibly know if it's possible, you don't have their set of genes, experiences, upbringing, habits etc. if it's as simple as to choose or not to choose, how come they don't choose? There's plenty of people that would want nothing more than to choose not to, millions. Yet they don't. Same with smoking. Some people find it easy to quit so they think it's easy just because it's easy for them, but they fail to see that people are different. Just like you fail to see that people are different. What's easy for you is hard to impossible for someone else.
  7. Did Ayn Rand have free will? And if so did she put it to use? Ayn Rand's ability to write and to think must be a combination of genetics and environment. No matter how much we 'will' something we cannot write as good as Ayn Rand, we don't share her environment and experiences and we lack the skill of writing and her imagination. Then she was lucky to be able to come to the US and become a citizen there (a luck most people in the world does not have, so even if there's far greater writers in the world than Rand, they cannot write and get published because where they are geographically) When it comes to Rand it was genetics (her ability to write and think), environment (upbringing, living in Soviet union that shaped her thoughts) and luck (her chance to come to the US) The question is then, can she be praised for anything? Anything at all?
  8. If the earths resources are limited, maybe you living for hundreds and hundreds of years will be at the expense of others.
  9. If I fall in love with a girl it's not because of a decision it's because, well I just fall in love. There's no starting point, it just happends. I can't MAKE myself love everybody. No matter how hard i choose to think. If I'm obese it can be because of genetic factors. Or eating habits established as a child. Or my reaction to a depression. Or because I just love food, I didn't one day wake up and decided to love food I just do. Or a bad habit I cannot break because I don't have whatever it takes, to break it. Or maybe, just maybe I CAN break that bad habit... well then it's because I DO have what it takes (but whatever that is, I didn't create so it's no thanks to me...) If I prefer blondes to brunettes, it's not by choice, it's by preference. Did I create that preference? No. It's just there. In each and everyone of us. No matter if we're objectivists or not. As we can see there's always a BEFORE reason, something BEFORE we make a decision proving that we dont make a decison ebcause the decision has already been made before us.
  10. To claim that this is a fact (as in a proven, established fact) isn't good enough. Then you're off to mysticism.
  11. If there's precious factors involved that drives the decision then the starting point was before "your" decision making and you didn't create it.
  12. I disagree. If you fall in love, there's no conscious choosing involved. Or if you start daydream. Or if you get an erection. Or... I'd even go so far that people most of the time dont think, and dont consciously choose. Rather they're on autopilot most of the time.
  13. No. Not if choice is an illusion. Then there cannot be one. All situations.
  14. If we take into account things like addiction, personalities, heritage, preference, inherited intelligence, environment and numerous other things that we at no time picked and at no time choosed, we'll find out that whatever choice we end up making was already being made before we were presented with the alternatives. Thus, there really is no choice, there is no volition.
  15. I can think of numerous examples of situations where it seems people have a choice to pick and choose but in reality they really don't. I'm sure you can too. How come one pick a food over another? Even though the food he rejects might even be healthier for him and lead to a longer life. It seems to me millions of americans constantly make the wrong choices, even against their will. How come one pick a brunette over a blonde? Did you really come to the objective conclusion that the brunette was the 'better' choice? How come a drug addict pick the drug 10 times outta 10 no matter how much he "choose to think".
  16. Yes but the question is WHY and HOW you end up making the decision you're making. And in examining the WHY and the HOW maybe we discover that it's not really volition in it's true sense of the word after all.
  17. If you make a good decision it's because of what? Your brain? Well you didnt create your brain, your intelligence, your upbringing, your genetics etc so no thanks to you. If you make a bad decision it's because of what? Your brain? Well you didn't create your brain, your lack of intelligence isnt your fault, your upbringing you had no say in and neither genetics so no shame on you.
  18. you could choose to do something else. but why would you? where did that thought or idea come from, and why did you choose that over another? because you spent time thinking bout it? how come you did that and some other person in the same situation didnt? because youre smarter? well what caused that? genetics?
  19. "you caused the actions you took" but could you have caused any other actions? and if so, why didnt you?
  20. stump

    Rand on Sports

    Yes We are Red Sox. Without the fans no team. The fans pays the bills, fill the seats.
  21. Some multimillionairs dont leave a penny for their kids because they feel they should be able to make their own money just as they did themselves.
  22. Maybe you sit on the truth and I dont? Maybe you can enlighten me, or maybe its the other way around. I don't know. Maybe I don't get it (and this is probably genetic, or can i choose to get it or not to get it?) I dont know what causes my opinion to be my opinion or whether i have a say in that. Do someone choose to be an objectivist for example?
  23. Is this topic something that Ayn Rand discuss in great detail in any of her books, if so which ones? I've read very little about it, stuff like "you choose to think or not to think" but it seems thats not a good enough answer, what causes one to think or not to think? why would someone choose not to think, if its in general benefical? (unless someone who does is considered stupid, well thats genetic too) if you're doing a test in school, you choose to think, everyone does, doesnt really matter for the result of the test though... without the brains, learning memory (also genetic) etc you still wont make it no matter how 'hard' you 'choose to think'. and then we're back at square one... genetics. environment. luck.
  24. Absolutelty. A musician for example, isn't he 'caused' by his environment? His musical heritage? His upbringing in a musical family? His parents choice of letting him play the piano at 4? Surely most musicians don't choose that road outta the blue in their adult age. And surely there's value in music, regardless of cause.
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