Running Bear said:
If you would have been born with my genetics and was raised by my parents wouldn't you have made the same exact decisions as Me?
Your genetics affects your decisions, but there are other factors.
Twins don't make the same decisions and if they did, they'd crash into each other, because they'd both want to be in the same place
A small difference in the choices we make can lead to big differences over time (known as the butterfly effect). So, for example, if your hypothetical twin did even the slightest thing differently at any point, he might end up having a completely different life to yours. If he bit his finger at the age of 2, he might end up becoming a monk, instead of, say, a lawyer.
Now, we know atoms and subatomic particles behave in unpredictable ways. However, we don't know if those random choices are deterministic or made on-the-fly. (I use the word "random" in the sense of a random number generator, so "random" doesn't necessarily mean non-deterministic).
The randomness of small particles naturally carries over to larger objects. It's not as evident at that scale, which makes the larger objects more stable, but then it's leveraged by the butterfly effect.
When you shoot a ball from a cannon, even in completely windless conditions, it will change its course from any trajectory you may calculate for it using Newtonian mechanics - most likely very slightly, but there is a small probability it may be a substantial change. That's the ball's 'free will'. And the cannon has its own.
Conscious intelligence is yet another way in which the randomness of small particles is leveraged. If you ask a human to throw a ball, the results will be less predictable than shooting it from a cannon, so the leverage is stronger, but somehow neater, more rounded and adaptive.
Another example would be planting a seed. You can't predict the shape of the branches of the tree that will grow from it, but you know the general pattern it will follow, and there is great complexity in the final result, but also beauty and gracefulness.
It's interesting how these difference levels of organization of matter have evolved in the Universe.
Running Bear said:
I'm starting to think that life has no meaning.
Considering our limited knowledge and understanding, I think everybody is free to choose whether to believe in a deterministic Universe or a non-deterministic one. I choose to believe life has a meaning
But you're free to choose otherwise (although to be consistent, you'd have to say you have no choice
)