I don't blame you for feeling the way you do about people who harm deliberately. I used to blame and praise but I stopped doing it because I realised that we are all doing inevitable things and are not worthy of praise or blame.

I am agnostic about blaming and praising anyone. Is being greedy and exploitative someone's fault? Would I not behave like them if I had their genes, environments, nutrients, and experiences? To answer this question incontrovertibly, I would have to create an identical universe with identical variables and see what happens. If hard determinism is true, everything will happen inevitably exactly as it happened in this universe. I think we are all cogs in the machine of reality.

Some of the determinants and constraints can be changed.

For example:
1. Gene therapy.
2. Changing the environment by moving to a different part of the Earth.
3. Giving aid to famine victims who are dying from not having enough nutrients.
4. Rescuing people from modern slavery and giving them treatment for PTSD if necessary.

Of course, many of the determinants and constraints can't be changed by the subjects and they need external help from others e.g. doctors, aid workers, police officers, paramedics, etc.

There are many wishful thinkers on Earth. I have met many of them. Given how harsh life is, I don't blame them for being wishful thinkers.

I am agnostic about a lot of things. Is solipsism true? I don't know. Is hard determinism true? I don't know. Do souls exist? I don't know. Is anyone responsible for the choices they make? I don't know.

I am completely certain of the following:
1. I am conscious.
2. I am typing in English.
3. I am not all-knowing.
4. I am not all-powerful.
5. I change.
6. Concepts e.g. the definition of squares, circles, triangles, etc.
7. I can't do lots of things I really want to do e.g. go back in time and prevent all suffering, inequality, injustice, and deaths and make all living things forever happy.
8. I do some things even though I don't want to do them. Here are some things I have done, currently do or will do even though I don't want to do them:

1. Breathe
2. Eat
3. Drink
4. Sleep
5. Dream
7. Pee
8. Poo
9. Fart
10. Burp
11. Sneeze
12. Cough
13. Age
14. Get ill
15. Get injured
16. Sweat
17. Cry
18. Suffer
19. Snore
20. Think
21. Feel
22. Choose
23. Be conceived
24. Be born
25. Remember some events that I don't want to remember
26. Forget information that I want to remember
27. Die

I am almost certain of the following:

1. I and all the other organisms currently alive will die. Every second brings all organisms closer to death.
2. My body, other organisms, the Earth and the Universe really exist and they are not part of a simulation or hallucination or dream or illusion.
3. Other organisms e.g. humans, cows, dogs, cats, chickens, pigs, lions, elephants, butterflies, whales, dolphins, etc. are sentient beings who feel pain.
4. Being a non-consumer is more ethical than being an autotroph, being an autotroph is more ethical than being a vegan/herbivore, being a vegan is more ethical than being a vegetarian, and being a vegetarian is more ethical than being an omnivore or carnivore.
5. Gods do not exist.
6. Souls do not exist.
7. Reincarnation does not happen.
8. Resurrection does not happen.
10. Organisms evolved and were not created by God or Gods.
11. 99.9% of all the species to evolve so far on Earth became extinct in 5 mass extinctions long before humans evolved.
12. Humans and other organisms do not have free will. Our wills are determined and constrained by our genes, environments, nutrients, and experiences. The reason I have put this one in the almost certain category is that it is possible that bodies, genes, cells, stars, planets, moons, galaxies, universes may not actually exist. These things could be part of a simulation or dream or hallucination or illusion. It is impossible to know with complete certainty. I could be a solipsistic soul experiencing the illusion of being in a human body on a planet in a universe or I could be a body without any soul - I don't know these things for sure, hence I am an agnostic. There are many hypotheses that can't be tested e.g. simulation hypothesis, illusion hypothesis, dream hypothesis, hallucination hypothesis, solipsism hypothesis, philosophical zombie hypothesis, panpsychism hypothesis, deism hypothesis, theism hypothesis, pantheism hypothesis, panentheism hypothesis, pre-life selection by souls hypothesis, resurrection hypothesis, reincarnation hypothesis, etc. Just because a hypothesis can't be tested it does not mean it is true or false. It just means that it is currently untestable.

My definition of free will is a will that is free from determinants and constraints. To prove me wrong, you would have to do the following:

1. Live forever without consuming any oxygen, fluids, or food.
2. Do things other organisms e.g. tardigrades, dolphins, chameleons, etc. can do.
3. Teleport everywhere and everywhen.
4. Prevent all suffering, inequality, injustice, and deaths.
5. Make all living things (including the dead ones and the never-born ones) forever happy.
6. Be all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful and make all the other beings also all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful.
7. Own an infinite number of universes and give all beings an infinite number of universes each for free.

Once you have done the above tasks, I will be convinced that you have free will. If I had free will, I would have already done the above tasks.

I don't know the answers to your questions. I am all-loving but I am not all-knowing or all-powerful. I am the Truth Seeker, not the Truth Knower.

I haven't read his book but I read some of the reviews on Amazon of his book. It seems that his book is pseudoscience.

We may not know until we die and die we will.

I agree with your statement "If you discuss a topic under different definitions of the key concept with the others, then you will not be able to reach the agreed conclusion."

Our genes, environments, nutrients, and experiences determine and constrain our choices. Most people turn a blind eye to this and insist they and other people have free will when they actually don't.

The reason I have not edited my original question is that even if the phrasing is wrong, that's what I was thinking and asking at the time of posting. The posts are steps on my journey from then to now. If I edit the original post the record of the journey will be distorted and will no longer be accurate.

You can still answer the question "Who from the following list could be judged responsible for one's actions?

Yes, I would feel guilty if I ate meat or drank cow's milk or ate chicken's egg or wore leather or wore wool and so on. However, if my choices are inevitable then I can't really be blamed or praised for my choices. Are the choices made by all living things inevitable? I don't know. If hard determinism is true then it would make sense that all choices are inevitable. The legal system simply ignores the implications of hard determinism and assumes that people have free will and are legally culpable if they do anything illegal. This is done because society needs laws to function. So, people are assigned legal culpability even when they lack actual culpability.

I agree.

Thank you for the link. I am quoting from the link https://bjgplife.com/recalled-experience-of-death

According to Van Lommel,2 the brain has an interface function and not a producing one. The brain works as transceiver sending information captured by the sense organs to consciousness, and receiving information from consciousness. For Van Lommel, consciousness is a non-local field as compared to an electromagnetic wave coded with information, which requires a gadget to decode it such as a smartphone, a radio or a TV set. These devices can be destroyed but not the information itself and its source. Similarly, the death of the body would not imply the end of consciousness.

Is Van Lommel correct or incorrect?

Materialists believe that only the brain is real and the mind is the product of the activities of the brain. Spiritualists believe that only the soul is real and everything else is illusion. Dualists believe that both the brain and the soul are real and the soul pilots the brain until the brain is dead and then is either resurrected or reincarnated. I am agnostic about the existence of souls, gods, resurrection and reincarnation. I am trying to find out the whole truth about everything and everyone.

I have spoken with people who have experienced Recalled Experience of Death (RED) but I couldn't establish if their brains were dead or not. I wish I could have performed functional MRI scans but that was not possible given the circumstances.

Dr Sam Parnia and his team seem convinced that the patients met the criteria for clinical death and would not have come back to life without their medical intervention.

I understand your point. The doctor did not verbalise his thoughts to anyone so it is extraordinary that the patient knew the doctor's thoughts. The anecdote from the doctor begins at 22:03 on the video.

Question for everyone: who among you watched the video and read the research paper in the first post in this thread?

How do you know this?

I don't know.

It is definitely the truth that I am seeking. I have sliced some human brains, too. I agree that it's not your job to disprove implausible claims. There are so many untestable hypotheses e.g. the immaterial souls that allegedly exist but brain scanners can't see and invisible gods and angels and demons, etc.

No, you didn't. Please stop lying.

Thank you very much for the link. I had not read it before. How does this explain the incident where the patient knew what the doctor was thinking?

Did you watch the video in the first post on this thread? In that video, Dr Sam Parnia said that those people actually died and then were brought back to life by medical treatment. This is why he called Near-Death Experience (NDE) to be a misnomer and renamed NDE to Recalled Experience of Death (RED).

Yes, I have had many dreams but the kind of experiences the people in the video spoke of are very different from dreams because they have factual information that was verified by others e.g. a patient told the doctor what the doctor did and even what the doctor was thinking!

How do you know that the brain causes consciousness? I have met people who believe that the brain, the body, the Earth, and the universe are all parts of an illusion called Maya. According to them, souls reincarnate in Maya according to karma accrued in the previous life. It is impossible to prove or disprove this claim.

I have also met people who believe that souls pilot brains and are judged by God on Judgement Day which will occur sometime in the future. It is impossible to prove or disprove this claim, too.

So, is the brain real? Is the soul real? Are both brains and souls real? Are God or Gods real? Is resurrection real? Is reincarnation real? By the word "real" I mean that they actually exist as opposed to believed to exist.

I have experienced general anaesthesia 11 times so I can relate to what you experienced.

One can be legally culpable without being morally culpable. I think that no one is morally culpable but all adults of sound minds are legally culpable.

Culpable for doing something morally incorrect. For example, I became a vegan eighteen years ago because two vegans convinced me that it is morally wrong to be an omnivorous or carnivorous human.

In my list, I have included beings I have never met and am not convinced exist, e.g. gods, angels, demons and the devil. I have also included beings such as robots and AI even though I am not convinced that the currently existing robots and AI are sentient. I chose the "No one" option from my list. I could be wrong but that is what I currently think. My thoughts may change or they may not.

I like your rephrasing: "Who from the following list could be judged responsible for one's actions?" Please answer the rephrased question. Thank you.

I have read many definitions of free will but I don't agree with any of them. My definition of free will is a will that is free from determinants and constraints. I don't mind if no one else agrees with my definition. I don't require anyone to agree with me about anything.

I agree.

No, not even in my dreams. I have experienced being close to death but I have never actually died. I nearly died by drowning when I was four years and nine months old. There have been many times when I thought that I would die but I didn't. I have witnessed many deaths.

Thank you very much for your advice. I agree with making the most of one's life by doing what matters to one. What matters the most to me is saving and improving lives. So, I save and improve lives daily.

How do you know that there is no consciousness after brain death? What about all the people who have Recalled Experience of Death (RED) and the stories they tell of visiting other places and the beings they meet there?

Thank you for your advice. I meditate daily but I haven't experienced death yet. How do you know this?

I don't know. I have met people who believe we are immortal souls and choose to be born and choose all the experiences we will have during our lives in this universe before we are born. They were not able to prove what they believe but that does not mean they are necessarily wrong. I am an agnostic about the existence of souls and gods but I am open to new evidence for souls and gods.

Please prove your claim with evidence.

The moral deliberation of someone is not free from variables he or she did not choose i.e. genes, environments since conception to the present, nutrients from conception to the present, experiences from the womb to the present. We don't have free will. We have determined and constrained will. This is why no biological being is morally culpable.

I do some things even though I don't want to do them. Here are some things I have done, currently do or will do even though I don't want to do them:

1. Breathe
2. Eat
3. Drink
4. Sleep
5. Dream
7. Pee
8. Poo
9. Fart
10. Burp
11. Sneeze
12. Cough
13. Age
14. Get ill
15. Get injured
16. Sweat
17. Cry
18. Suffer
19. Snore
20. Think
21. Feel
22. Choose
23. Be conceived
24. Be born
25. Remember some events that I don't want to remember
26. Forget information that I want to remember
27. Die

My definition of free will is a will that is free from determinants and constraints. To prove me wrong, you would have to do the following:

1. Live forever without consuming any oxygen, fluids, or food.
2. Do things other organisms e.g. tardigrades, dolphins, chameleons, etc. can do.
3. Teleport everywhere and everywhen.
4. Prevent all suffering, inequality, injustice, and deaths.
5. Make all living things (including the dead ones and the never-born ones) forever happy.
6. Be all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful and make all the other beings also all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful.
7. Own an infinite number of universes and give all beings an infinite number of universes each for free.

Once you have done the above tasks, I will be convinced that you have free will. If I had free will, I would have already done the above tasks.

Have you considered the results of the AWARE-II study? Please see: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0300957223002162

I agree.

An all-knowing being by definition knows everything which includes what my room and I look like. This is getting boring.

An all-knowing being would be able to describe my room and what I look like even without teleporting into my room. Your lies are not even plausible.

Ok, please describe my room and what I look like.

You have claimed that you have done all the tasks but you have not proven to me and others on this forum with evidence that you have done all the tasks.

Why would an all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful being as you claim you are, be afraid of exposing his or her identity? What about doing something else from the list that doesn't expose your identity but still proves your claim that you have done all the tasks on the list?

LOL. It's not a matter of practice. Learning to play the piano is a matter of practice.

Ok, thank you for sharing.