Will B. Free

Is our behavior determined by biological processes?

If free will were a delusion, what implications would this have with our system of laws and our codes of moral behavior?

If free will were a delusion, just a figment of our imagination, it would mean that we only have one way of doing things. Based on what the “right thing” is, like automatically avoiding a puddle, our actions would be one-track and very predictable… even though we seem to be thinking about them. Our laws and codes of moral behavior tell us what the right thing is. They tell us that we shouldn’t kill, shouldn’t jaywalk and should pay the right jeepney fare. If free will were a delusion, then we would automatically do what the law tells us. The “right thing” would be to follow the law, and just like avoiding a puddle, we wouldn’t consciously realize why.

If this were the case, then there would come a time that we would need really specific laws, like when are we allowed to take a right turn in an intersection at 10am on Thursdays. Well, not that specific. What I mean is, if we really didn’t have free will, then someone or something would always be telling us what to do. We would seem to be deciding on what we should do, but in the end we would just follow what they tell us. What the laws say, what our codes of moral behavior say. And if we don’t have enough laws to cover every possible action, then we literally don’t know what to do.

Can free will be reconciled with science or scientific method?

I was watching I-Robot a few days ago. In one of the scenes, Will Smith was trapped inside a sinking car. A robot comes, and begins to help him. However, Will implores the robot save the girl in the other sinking car instead. The robot wouldn’t, because Will had a higher chance of surviving than the girl. And so, because the robot didn’t have free will, it just computed what the “right thing” was, and acted. And so, Will lived, the girl died, and we have a nice background for a really good movie.

Science and scientific methods are exact, predictable. They find logical and reasonable reasons how and why things happen as they happen. They know why the sky is blue and the grass is green. However, they still don’t know why people pick vanilla ice cream over chocolate, or why students like 5:30pm to 7:00pm classes better than 7:00am to 8:30am ones. Science can find out that we like vanilla because it’s not as sweet as chocolate, or that we like night classes better so that we can sleep and wake up late. But, science can’t find out why we like the less sweet, or why we like to sleep a lot. Free will is a matter of personal preference, of weighing what we want with what is offered. Most of the time, the choice is predictable, like doing our homework, as opposed to ignoring them. But sometimes, the choice is a bit weird, like why we would still cram our homework when we’ve seen time and again that cramming sucks. As of now, free will can be reconciled with science… to a point. For me, some things are just meant to be kept a mystery, and free will is one of those things.

Is our behavior governed by biological processes rather than free will?

Ah, tricky question. Well… it depends. :P

As much as I would like to plainly answer yes or no, behavior isn’t as clear cut as black and white. Suppose you’re in Mcdo, and you order a Big Mac and a sundae. Your brain tells you to order a lot of food because you’re hungry, so you get a Big Mac. However, who or what told you to order the sundae? Perhaps you wanted to get your daily ice cream fix. Was it your free will that told you that, or was it your brain that remembered that you really like Mcdo’s sundae?

Probably both. Biological processes in our brain tell us what we like and dislike, what’s right or wrong for us. Yet, it is up to us is we would follow these urges. In Penfield’s experiment, he stimulated a patient’s brain to make him move his arm. The arm moved, obviously, but when the patient knew it was moving without him wanting it, he realized that it wasn’t him that made it move. The patient’s free will got trumped by biological processes in his brain. But, under normal circumstances (meaning, no one’s messing with your brain), your arm won’t move until you want it to move. This time, your free will trumps biological processes.

Surprisingly, free will doesn’t always lose to biological processes. Sure, you can’t tell your heart to stop beating. But with proper training, you can make your heart slow down, similar to monks reaching meditative states and David Blaine. What I mean is, free will and biological processes go hand in hand in our behavior and daily life. If we only had free will, and no biological processes for us to do what we want, then we would go nowhere. If we only had biological processes and no free will to decide what to do, then we would just be like animals that just follow their instincts.

Sumingit

Walang Nangyari – Parokya ni Edgar

isa dalawa tatlo apat

let's talk

you know it's stupid

yo it was okay

walang nangyari sa'kin na magandang irelate

wala kasi nangyari sa'kin na kakaiba

kung wala kang gagawin, yo, makinig ka na

nagising ako kahapon siguro mga one

bumaba 'ko sa kusina sabay ng tanghalian

pagkatapos kong kumain bumalik sa kwarto ko

tapos non ako'y natulog hanggang alas kwarto

okay din ako'y bumagon ako ay nagugutom

bumaba 'ko uli at naghanap ng malalamon

tumingin ako sa ref, pati na rin sa right

wala akong mahanap so umalis ako ng bahay

nagpunta 'ko sa tindahan bumili ng instant mami

bumalik ako sa bahay nanood ako ng tv

walang magandang palabas and yo it was so corny

bigla ko naalala i was feeling kinda horny

binuksan ko yung tv sinarado ko yung door

at pagkatapos kong ilock

nanood ako ng porn..

walang nangyari

walang nangyari

pagkatapos nun alam niyo ba

wala 'kong magawa

minabuti kong magexercise at magpush-ups push-ups muna

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

sabay tayo tanggal ng shirt harap sa salamin

pagkakita sa sarili sabi "shit kulang pa rin!"

so i pushed-up again and nagdagdag pa 'ko nang 7

pagkalipas na nakapagpahinga

agad-agad naghubad maliligo na sana

nang biglang na lang may nagtext

isang magandang ex

na-isip ko, "sana gusto nitong makipag-SSSHHH!!!!"

subalit napamura pagkatapos ko mabasa

sabi'y, "chito friend mo ba yung vocalist ng rivermaya?"

ang sabi ko, "ay hindi!" at sa sobrang inis

dinagdagan ko pa nang "teka, sori, who is this?"

walang nangyari

yo DJ make some claps

yes...

pagkaligo ko natapos din sa relo napatingin

it was already 7:30 at 'di pa 'ko kumakain

gusto ko ng rice at tsaka ng lechon kawali

walang lechon kawali so bumili ng instant mami

pagkatapos kong kumain nagpunta sa terrace namin

nagsipilyo 'ko nang yosi at tuluyan nagpahangin

walang katao-tao doon at medyo madilim

kayo 'ko napraning nung cellphone ko ay nagring

nawala ang aking takot nung cellphone ko ay nabunot

at nakita ko yung caller so agad kong sinagot

"hello there mr. darius ano ang gimmik natin?"

sumagot sya, "hey what's up man? baka trip mong kumain?"

ang sabi ko, "shit sayang naman kakatapos ko lang

tawagan mo na lang ako pagaktapos nang hapunan"

so pinatay ko na yung yosi at bumalik sa kwarto ko

nanood ako ng tv nang kung ano-ano

makalipas tatlong oras ako ay nabato

so pinatay ko na yung tv at natulog na ako

walang nangyari

yo Dj bring it down bring it down

bring it down

yo

yo

pagkatapos nun natapos na

tapos na ang kanta

bakit kaya ganun bakit umaandar pa sya

pinindot ko yung stop

pati na rin yung go

bakit kaya ganun ayaw pa ring nyang huminto

alin kaya dito ang dapat kong pindutin

bakit kaya ganun bakit umaandar pa rin

e kung ito kaya?

I don’t want to admit it, and I try my best to find good things about it, but sad to say… by childhood was… shall we say… unspectacular. Everyday for 12 years, I wake up at 5am, go to school, be a real good and quiet kid, get decent grades, go home, play a little, study, eat, sleep and so on. I wasn’t part of any varsity team, I never won any contest, I never had a barkada until high school and I never became a teacher’s pet. (In fact, the most… shocking… thing I did was tell my teacher that I hated school. I’ve always regretted that…) I was literally your average kid, never with the nerds nor the jocks. I just cruised through life, which when I come to think of it, was the worst thing anyone could do with their lives..
Alapaap – Eraserheads

may isang umaga na tayo'y magsasama

haya at halina sa alapaap

o anong sarap

hanggang sa dulo ng mundo

hanggang maubos ang ubo

hanggang gumulong ang luha

hanggang mahulog ang tala

masdan mo ang aking mata

di mo ba nakikita

ako ngayo'y lumilipad at nasa langit na

gusto mo ba'ng sumama?

hindi mo na kailangan ang

magtago't mahiya

hindi mo na kailangan ang

humanap ng iba

kalimutan na muna

ang lahat ng problema

huminga ka ng malalim at tayo'y lalarga na

handa na ba'ng gumala?

ang daming bawal sa mundo

sinasakal nila tayo

buksan ang puso at isipan

paliparin ang kamalayan

masdan mo ang aking mata

di mo ba nakikita

ako lumilipad at nasa alapaap na

gusto mo ba'ng sumama?

tara na!

These days, I’m over trying too hard. Back then I was all business, robot-like. I never, or rarely, got a chance to enjoy life. Now, I leave all those burdens behind. By my 3^rd year in high school, and here in UP, I’ve learned that I don’t need to prove myself anymore. I’m still focused on studying and all, I just enjoy it more. I celebrate every A paper, but also laugh at myself for flunking that oh-so-instant-perfect long test. I give my all when I play basketball or spar in arnis, rejoice at every good play, and just smile at my every wrong move J. With my newfound freedom, it’s like I have a new lease in life, a little more bounce in my step. And why not? Life is meant to be experienced. Live a little.
Hope – Twista

I wish the way I was living could stop, serving rocks,

Knowing the cops is hot when I'm on the block, And I

Wish my brother woulda made bail,

So I won't have to travel 6 hours to see him in jail, And I

Wish that my grandmother wasn't sick,

Or that we would just come up on some stacks and hit a lick, And I (I wish)

Wish my homies wouldn't have to suffer,

When the streets get the upper had on us and we lose a brother, And I

Wish I could go deep in a zone,

And lift the spirits of the world with the words with in this song, And I (I wish)

Wish I could teach a could teach a soul to fly,

Take away the pain out cha hands and help you hold them hi, And I

wish my hommie butch was still alive and on the

day of his death we had never took that ride

And I wish that God could protect us from the wrong so that all the soldiers were sent overseas come home and uh

We will never break, though they devistate, we shall motivate,

And we gotta pray, all we got is faith.

Instead of thinking about who gonna die to day,

The Lord is gonna help you feel better, so you ain't gotta cry today.

Sit at the light so long,

And then we gotta move straight forward, cuz we fight so strong,

So when right go wrong,

Just say a little prayer, get ya money man, life goes on!!!

Let's HOPE!

[CHORUS]

Cuz I'm hopeful, yes I am, hopeful for today,

Take this music and use it

Let it take you away,

And be hopeful, hopeful and he'll make a way

I know it ain't easy but that's okay.

Cuz we hopeful!

I wish that you could show some love,

Instead of hatin so much when you see some other people commin up (I wish)

I wish I could teach the world to sing,

Watch the music and have 'em trippin of the joy I bring,

I wish that we could hold hands,

Listen instead of dissin lessons from a grown man, And I (I wish)

Wish the families that lack, but got love, get some stacks

Brand new shack and a lack that's on dubs, And I

Wish we could keep achieving wonders,

See the vision of the world through the eyes of Stevie Wonder, (you feel me) (I wish)

And I hope all the kids eat,

And don't nobody in my family see six feet, (ya dig)

I hope them mothers stand strong,

You can make it whether you wit him or your mans gone, And I (I wish)

Wish I could give every celly some commissary,

And the po po bring the heat on them priest like they did R. Kelly, And I

Wish that DOC could scream again

And bullets could reverse so Pac and Biggie breath again,(I wish)

Then one day they could speak again,

I wish that we only saw good news every time we look at CNN,

I wish we could never get the blues

Wish I could bring back the people that died at E2

I wish that we could walk a path, stay doin the right thing

Hustle hard so the kids maintain the right thing

Let's HOPE

[CHORUS]

Wish the earth wasn't so apocalyptic,

I try to spread my message to the world the best way I can give it,

We can make it always be optimistic

If you don't listen gotta live my life the best way I can live it,

I pray for justice when we go to court,

Wish it was all good so the country never even went to war,

Why can't we kick it and just get em on,

And in the famous words of Mr. King "Why can't we all just get along",

Hope we can find a better way to shop in peace, And I

Hope we find a better way to cop for keys, And I

Wish everybody would just stop and freeze,

And ask way are we fulfillin these downfalls and prophecies,

You can be wrong if it's YOU doubting,

With the faith of a mustard seed you can move mountains,

And only the heavenly father can ease the hurt,

Just let it go and keep prayin on your knees in church!!

And let's HOPE

[Chorus] 2x

Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always wanted to change the world. You know, the “When I grow up I wanna be really rich and powerful so that I can make all the bad people go away and we can live happily ever after amen.” The only problem is… I don’t really know how. I don’t have any master plan for world peace yet. But I do know that I went to Ateneo and UP for a reason. I know that I was, and still am, given the best education in the land because I know that I have a small but significant role. It could be through being a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, or even a politician, I don’t know. I just know, and I just hope, that I can help make this world a better place.

PS – thanks to www.letssingit.com for the lyrics J

Let's Party!cipate

One boring day, I was hanging out at our tambayan. Kuya Francis walks by, and asked if anyone’s free that time. I volunteer, since I won’t be doing anything anyway, and go with him. I asked him what’s this all about, and he just answered, “You’ll see. Gagawin niyo rin ito kapag higher psych na kayo.” And so I got dragged, unwittingly, into my first ever experiment.

From that “fateful” psych135 experiment in the first (!) sem, I’ve been fascinated about psychology experiments. They open up your hidden attraction to certain choices (Healthy or Hip?), to how you behave (Competitive or Passive?), to how you see yourself (Am I fat?). The mere fact that students have devised ways to scientifically study humans is just so cool! So cool, in fact, that I almost filled up my credit sheet! (well technically, I filled it up. Ndi lang nakalagay yung two other stickers J).

Here’s a quick rundown of them all:

Collaborative Problem Solving – communication skills (may scary confederate! Haha). There are a number of topics, ranging from my fave color to TOFI, on the table, and both of us are to talk about 5 of them. The experimenters said that there’d be a 2^nd part… but I haven’t heard from them o.O

How will you know? – How filling gender roles affect attractiveness. We were given a set of adjectives describing someone of the opposite sex, and were asked to say if s/he were attractive. They varied the descriptions from purely male-like (likes cars), purely female-like (likes dolls) or mixed.

Emofunc – how being given gender-oriented ideas will affect decision-making. Alone in a room, there were two products, each with two different marketing strategies (healthy or hip, cheap or cool etc) and were asked to choose. Next, I was exposed to words linked to one strategy, and asked to choose again.

No Read No Write – visual cues on courtship. There was a mute, black-and-white clip with a guy and a girl… and a lot of hands o.O. After the clip, we were asked if we noticed flirty or seductive actions between them. This was probably the weirdest I joined in haha.

What do you see? – how the lack of an authority figure affects behavior. This one I liked! I kwento more down there J

Sana dalawa ang puso ko – … I’m sorry, but I honestly can’t remember what happened here. I just remember the experimenters, that there were some videos and laptops, and that I was late here… ooops.

Body Esteem Scale – how you judge your own body. This one was very long, but surprisingly thorough. How we feel about our forearms, calves, wrists, everything.

iSUBok mo – gender discrimination survey. Also very long, but a bit… R18. seriously haha

Cloud 9 – how either gender sees sexual harrasment. It asks things how we’d feel if we were touched by a fe/male student/prof. Oh, and the place (PPT) was real lonely, since the only guys there were the experimenters L

Ang Galing Mo Naman – visual memory and how long we remember them. We were shown pics of psychology personalities with their names (Frued, Maslow, Horney etc) 4 in a row, then shown a pic and asked who that person is. It was a really interesting study but very very boring. Sori J

Sex 101 – survey on how much we know about sex. No, really.

Yun Yon eh! – sound vs visual cues. There was a sequence of pictures accompanied by words and bells randomly rang every so often. We were told to take note of how many times the bells rang. Afterwards, we were shown another sequence of pictures and we asked to determine which of them were in the first sequence.

Text Twist – how content are we with our achievements. This is so funny, because I was supposed to do some other experiment, but they weren’t ready so the Text Twist guys pirated me lol. I was given an “easy” set of text twist puzzles, and was told to do as good as possible. Then, I was asked how content I was with my work.

Photogenic Memory – detail attentiveness. This one I also liked (and not because there was chocolate, or that the experimenters are my friends J). We were shown a series black-and-white pictures, and were told to take note of the details. Then, they gave us chocolate! Afterwards, we were shown another series of pictures, and asked which of them were also in the first one.

There. 14 experiments worth 8 ½ hours of credits. Like I said, I like taking part in experiments (and not just because we had a small contest of who’d fill up the sheet first XD). There’s something attractive about scrutinizing every choice, decision and action you make. Not only does it give the experimenters much needed data, it also makes you reassess yourself. Like a retreat, only much shorter and simpler. It makes you rethink why you pick sexy over nice, or how you can improve your short-term memory, or how and why you get noisy when the teacher’s not around. Those little things that you never notice.

Also, as a Psych major, and future experimenter himself, joining experiments not only gives experimenters data, it also gives me ideas on what I might do, and what I would expect. Let’s take “What do you see” as an example.

I was in a room with two other female “participants”/confeds. We were told to follow the usual SOPs (keep quiet, don’t communicate, may leave anytime etc), and that we put our cellphones on silent and vibrate on top of our tables. Then, Renz the experimenter (see, I’m close like that XD) gave us some word puzzles and left us. After a while, he came back, collected our papers, and told us to wait a moment, since the next set weren’t there yet. Then he left again. After a few moments, one of the girls started to small talk me. Unfortunately, I was very sleepy and light-headed that day… so I started to doze off J. Also, I noticed that my phone was at low battery, so I switched it off. After around 5 minutes, Renz came back with the next set of word puzzles, where I got one saying that the experiment was over. After they finished theirs, I was debriefed. I was told that the study was about how we would behave without an authority figure nearby. They expected that I’d start babbling one the experimenter was gone and that I’d answer my phone, since Renz was supposedly calling me when he went out. At that point, they were amused/frustrated that I dozed off, and that I turned my phone off hahaha. That was fun J

In that one experiment, I learned that a) puzzles aren’t the only thing that we can be tested with, b) participants don’t always behave like how we want them to behave and c) good confeds are hard to find (and keep!).

And so, would I recommend participating in experiments to everyone? Well, probably not to every person I meet, but yeah I’d recommend it. It benefits the experimenters who are hard-pressed to find participants. It benefits the participants because, like I said, it also makes you examine yourself. It benefits the department, because experiments (and surveys) are the embodiment of what Psychology is – the systematic study of human behavior. And sometimes, they’re just flat-out fun! Like a friend of mine said, “Psych majors are here para mang-experiment ng mga tao.”

Ayun eh!