I suspected that would need explaining, but I didn’t want to go off on a tangent about my beliefs.
I don’t think free will exists. Setting aside what I’d like to believe about souls, the only thing I have evidence for is that we’re nothing but the chemical reactions happening within our bodies. Everything about who and what we are is determined by environmental factors that no one has any control over. You can’t choose how kind or intelligent you are any more than you can choose to fly.
People who do bad things need to be stopped in only order to prevent further harm. If we can change them or negotiate with them so that they won’t harm people anymore, they should be free to live in society, especially if they’re able to make reparations to their victims. If they can’t be healed or reasoned with then they’ll have to stay in prison indefinitely, but as a necessity, not as a punishment.
Imagine a rabid dog kills a child. The dog can’t choose whether it’s a good boy or a monster; it just is what it is. You can’t bring the child back to life or improve the dog’s behavior by beating it, so what’s the point?
Oh so is THAT why everyone behaves so sociopathically these days? Because your minds are not living in the real world? You believe that your bodies are detached from your free will therefore all the hideous harmful illegal things you do are not your fault? Well that’s what prison is for. To keep people like you locked away from the rest of us who know how to obey the law. I loathe coexisting with you psychotic people.
I suspected that would need explaining, but I didn’t want to go off on a tangent about my beliefs.
I don’t think free will exists. Setting aside what I’d like to believe about souls, the only thing I have evidence for is that we’re nothing but the chemical reactions happening within our bodies. Everything about who and what we are is determined by environmental factors that no one has any control over. You can’t choose how kind or intelligent you are any more than you can choose to fly.
People who do bad things need to be stopped in only order to prevent further harm. If we can change them or negotiate with them so that they won’t harm people anymore, they should be free to live in society, especially if they’re able to make reparations to their victims. If they can’t be healed or reasoned with then they’ll have to stay in prison indefinitely, but as a necessity, not as a punishment.
Imagine a rabid dog kills a child. The dog can’t choose whether it’s a good boy or a monster; it just is what it is. You can’t bring the child back to life or improve the dog’s behavior by beating it, so what’s the point?
Oh so is THAT why everyone behaves so sociopathically these days? Because your minds are not living in the real world? You believe that your bodies are detached from your free will therefore all the hideous harmful illegal things you do are not your fault? Well that’s what prison is for. To keep people like you locked away from the rest of us who know how to obey the law. I loathe coexisting with you psychotic people.