What You (Want to)* Want
19 hours ago
- The author has been puzzled since age 9 about the contradiction between being made of predictable matter and feeling free to choose.
- An initial incorrect answer is that you can do what you want but cannot want what you want; however, people can change their wants (e.g., addicts).
- The corrected answer adds layers: you cannot want to want what you want, and with each added 'want to,' change becomes rarer, leading to an ultimate want you don't control.
- This can be expressed using a regular expression or higher-order desires: there is some n such that you don't control your nth-order desires.
- Randomness in matter does not significantly affect the problem, as it still undermines free will.