Is free will real or just an illusion?

Lol.... true either way!  

So there is some free will, but within a framework of non-choice.

WOW we speaka da same language here.

Was just thinking of you. They've been interviewing yahoos over at the convention center. Who have been lining up since this morning. One woman said she's more excited to see Cheeto Benito than she was seeing the Beatles. Tinfoil hat sales must be through the roof. Civilization as we know it is officially over. 

People WANT to see him.  It is 106 today and these goons are outside waiting in line and the SHOW doesn't start till 7.   I think they are letting people in already though. 

I heard people get preferred seating if they're married to a sibling or cousin. That's bringing the excitement level to a fever pitch.

No.  Not here. That is the south.  This is the west. No one is married at all.  We are all bastids.

Ahh, I see. My bad. But I did read that immigration issues play into the collective brain damage. All those "nasty" Mexicans scooping up the valuable jobs they were just aching to do. And Papa Trump is gonna magically make all their "troubles" disappear.

More than THE BEATLES???  smh (repeatedly)

That was the quote. Maybe it's the exotic orange monkey hair.

I am so close to saying potentially-derogatory remarks about what the woman said but I won't. My mouth just dropped that President Trump is bigger for this woman than The Beatles. Hey - - who am I to say anything?

I've already said too much. Out of here. (I'm sure her experience will exceed all of her expectations, I bet.)

There, there.

Ha! You're so kind! I love it!
:)

Yes, we all have free will to an extent.  Even a person in prison can decide whether or not to eat his bologna sandwich. 

But what about the norms we adhere to as a society? Do we refrain from stealing because we make that choice, or because it's illegal and we might get caught?  

Choice versus what is imposed upon us is the question.   

I think that guy standing over there with his mashine gun have an issue he want to discuss with you.

But mostly I agree, the real question is "are our lives predictable?" and I dont know the answer.

Yea, I read the foundation series. And also Asimows own critique of it. It first fail when 'the Mule' is born an unexpected mutant human who could never have been a part of Sheldons theory at all: the theory must perforce assume that humans are a constant.
Woo, Woo. the second foundation comes to the rescue and steers things back on track, but how many other mutants get born in a humanity numbering millions of trillions. No way could their effects be predicted by anyone.

But what I noticed most was that Asimov is American, individualist to the core. Again and again the story gets saved by an individialist genius that everyone else think is crazy. Heroes, there gotta be heroes ;-)) but the very idea of individualistic heroes blows Sheldons theories out of the water. They would be one of the dangers the second foundation was set up to prevent.

All good points ... and goes to prove that the actions of a "mob" are predictable, but the actions of individuals are less so.
Which means if everyone goes along with the "mob think", you can predict what will happen.
But if someone actively goes against the "mob think", it makes it more difficult to predict.
>> Of course, the tendency of "mobs" is to get rid of anyone who goes against them.

On the individual level ... I suppose you can predict our lives to a certain degree.
After all, that's what an insurance actuarial does.  Predict the risk of death/injury based on gender, age, ethnicity, and lifestyle.

Yes, byt how 'accurately' do actuarians do it? I read somewhere that even today when serious people no longer consider AIDS a gay disease, Homosexuals still have to pay higher life insurance premiums, Silly, but there is still strong religious pressure and anyway, the higher premiums for a group means higher income for the insurance companies, so there is no hurry to 'fix' it. Heck, even lesbians have to pay such higher premiums even though lesbian sex is less likely to cause rips and tears that break the skin.