Sometimes, when I see a flower, I think of politics; when I hear a plane, I think of a doctor; when I do math homework, I think of running; when I read a historical narrative, I think of a text I just sent. The common adage of “one’s train of thought” has been derailed.

What separates humans from animals is our ability to bear conversation, to experience and digest information, and to truly partake in rationalization. Thought, or thinking, is what has progressed civilization, out of the 20,000 year old Lascaux caves in France to the now neon-lit signs that almost plague the streets of Tokyo. Now, I’d like to beg a couple, somewhat, ridiculous questions: Do we control our own thoughts? Do we really have free will?

So I was takin’ a walk the other day (kudos to those of you who got the Kendrick reference) with my friend after our track meet and we were discussing similar questions. He brought up this idea of free will and a sense of self arguing that we don’t have free will, at least not complete free will. He cited an all too familiar sensation: those random thoughts that pop into your head. These random thoughts, as random as they might be, link back to your biology–a string of neurons firing inside of your brain. Something that is natural. Something that is observable. Something that is predictable.

Although humans have a conscious, our body’s are dictated almost entirely by our brain. As early as the 1960 s, scientists began to observe that when people performed a spontaneous, simple movement, there is a build up in brain activity before the decision or movement is actually made. Put differently, even though your conscious mind may convince you that you have complete control over this decision, your brain has already made the choice without your awareness.

Of course, there are many exceptions. Not everything you do is predetermined by your brain. Most things aren’t, like simple every day tasks. Another theory that we brought up was determinism, or this idea that everything that happens was and is predetermined or at the very least influenced to a certain degree by the environment around you.

The way I envision this theory manifesting itself in everyday life is in the choices your brain offers you. Let me paint a scene. Let’s say you are in a dark alley way and you are getting robbed. In response, your brain frantically tries to think of a way out of the situation. Based on your current environment, your brain would most likely think to run away, or to just give your belongings to the robber, or try to resist, etc. However, based on past experiences you might have had, your brain constructs different responses that might limit your ability to make a certain choice. For example, if you had been mugged in the past, your brain’s first instinct would probably not be to stand and fight. The way I understand the theory of determinism is the ability to autonomously pick from a somewhat predetermined set of choices your brain offers you in a certain scenario. In essence, absolute free will is effect independent of cause: the ability to not just pick from a range of choices predetermined by your brain and environment, but to be able to pick those choices themselves, generated independently of your environment.

Where do I stand? Unlike my friend, I do believe that humans have free will. Based on its strict definition, it’s impossible to say that we have complete free will, but we certainly have a good amount, enough to give us (some might say the illusion of) autonomy and the rationale to generally make good choices.

Thinking is very interesting. This blog post did not turn out how I expected it to turn out, but it was certainly fun to research about. I must say, people on Reddit are very passionate about their arguments. I give thinking a 4/4 (kinda have to tho cuz without it we’d prolly still be in the caves).