Free Will

[ClockworkAngel]

I shall give these based on personal perspective, because I am aware that my perspective, whilst similar to others, is not the same. So!

1. You only think with your own brain, and are therefore limited to thoughts and actions that fall within your capacities.

Strictly speaking, yes. But the brain is an ever-changing, malleable organ, as has been proven with moder neuroscience. For more nerdy information on this, refer to THIS article. So actually saying that an individual's brain has limits or capacities is ridiculous as far as I am concerned. IT's imossible to gauge one's limits of cognitive functionality and, thus, is also impossible to dertimine how your future actions will compare to those of today. If presented in an identicle situation even as close as a week apart, there is no evidence to suggest that you would take the same course of action at both instances.

2. your brain is defined by your genes and shaped by your environment, neither of which you chose.

Also true in a strict sense, but there are far more powers at work in this than just genes and the environment. Each individual will build up their own unique thought processes, uninfluenced by the world around them. Some people will develop ways of thinking completely unrelated to their environment, or their ancestry. Not to say genes and the environment don't have an effect at all, but they are not the only variables that dertimine how your brain is "shaped".

3.if you don't do one thing, you do something else. at any given point your brain responds to your situation, and compels you to act based on its level of function, and correlation to personal experience.

That's a given. You are, at every single point in time, doing something. You cannot physically be doing nothing as long as you are still in existence. Even in death, you are still doing something, as your fingernails and hair will continue to grow, even for a tiem after death. Your brain processes information from all five senses continually, whether you are concious or not, and will react based on the information received. Try doing nothing right now. It's impossible. You'll be thinking of something. Or you'll be thinking of trying not to think of something. And even if you make your mind go completely mu, your brain will be working hard keeping you alive. If presented with a choice of two or more options, it is inevitable that you must do something and completely impossible to not do something. As for it's correlation to personal experience, surely that depends on points one and two? You may think about things in a logical manner and as such, take the most logical course of action, despite what you ahve personally experienced, thus technically going against your personal experiences in life. Isn't that right, Mr. Spock? XD

4 therefore being alive and free will are mutually exclusive..

There is absolutely no evidence for or against this. Nothing in the universe can prove whether we have free will or not. That is up to us to decide for ourselves. Because if we believe we DO have free will, then what if whatever controls our will wanted us to think that? All I'll say on this is, this quote from Professor Stephen Hawking: “I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.”

5. in the physical realm of being, given that all outcomes are equally probable, there is still one line between birth and death.
Not too sure I understand this point. Are you saying that despite all the differences amongst the variations of people and their thoughts on this planet, everyone is predestined to be born and to die? If so, then yes, of course. But that's not a lack of free will. We can no more will ourselves to live forever than we can will the rain to fall upwards. It's just basic science. A simple fact of the universe that cannot be changed. If not, then I'mma drink my tea quietly for this one.
6. that being so, it is impossible to know the ends before the means.
Once again, rather unsure. You seem to be talking in riddles now, rather than just make plain English points. n.n But it sounds like some fortune teller doohickey to me. "Impossible to know the ends before the means" as in, it's impossible to know the future without know how we'll get there? Because that's what my 6am brain is translating this as... Not the idea time for thought provoking replies, I know... XD

7. the more people that exist, the greater the amount of lifeline intersections (or reactions) take place, presenting a larger test sample to observe emergent behavioral patterns.

I'll come back to this. I can't actually think of anything for this at the moment, I'm that tired. XD So I'll leave it until I can have a proper think on it.
8. which then exponentially reinforces the concept we understand as human nature.

The only thing I deem as human nature, is Schadenfreude, and that's because humans are generally assholes like that, even myself. Everything else is so variable, I can't even choose where to being. Human nature is as wide and varied as humans themselves. Over 6 billion people on this planet... How can we possibly summarize similarities in personalities, actions and thought patterns with something as simple as Human Nature? What is it? There may have been a time, when countries were split and the world was large, but now it's a connected hub, centered around the great connector, the internet. In my eyes, there is no Human Nature anymore. Everyone thinks for themselves and acts for themselves. Inidivual Nature may be an obscure name for it, but I think it's a better term, because that's what everyone is. Everyone is an individual. They are born seperate, they think seperate, they live seperate lives. They may connected at times, but they will seperate again and go about their own way, not necessarilly the same as anyone elses. I do not think "human nature" should exist, for we are not a whole, we are individuals, each with our own views and beliefs on what our nature is.

That's my personal opinion up there. If it doesn't relate to what you wanted to say, then apologies. This is my view on things. I don't expect it to be the same as yours. After all, I'm an individual. n.n