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This brings to mind a provocative view of free will I've recently read and have mulled over. The picture goes something like this:
A: I have free will because I can choose to do anything I want to do.
B: But, you see, in your very own definition of free will, you have leveled a restriction.
A: How so?
B: You said, 'I can choose what I want to do.' Let me ask you this, my good friend. Could you choose to kill me right now?
A: Certainly. I am stronger than you, I could easily imagine killing you, either with my hands or with a weapon.
B: Ah, but that's not what I asked. I didn't ask if it were physically possible, I asked, could you choose to kill me?
A: Hmm, that does seem a stickier wicket.
B: Isn't "anything I want" a convenient little delusional phrase? Clearly your will is NOT as free as you think. You are limited to "choosing" only that which "you" will allow yourself to "choose".
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'He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.'
-TJ
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