[TurtleWA]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

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If we accept that we as people are but the sum of our memories (the breadth of our lives, what has been absorbed into our brains from the people we've met, experiences we've had, books we've read, bad TV we've watched and everything else) -- and we kind of have to, don't we? -- is there really any actual "choice"? i.e., if I decide to go to the store at lunch time and grab a bag of Fun Yuns... is it not because basically the conscious sum of all of my memories is compelling me to do that?

I mean, you can throw things like brain chemistry and different chemical balances or imbalances within the body out there as possible variables... but even then, these aren't things under our control either.

Unless you're religious, of course. If you're religious the answer will be "Of course there's a choice, you have a soul." But if you don't subscribe to that...?

Isn’t this similar to the popular philosophical debates surrounding free will?