[FRIAM] Breaking Bad and Free Will

[Marcus Daniels]

Walter White was drawn into that life as sure as water runs downhill.    Watching him go deeper and deeper was like repeating “step” in GDB.

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Jochen Fromm
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2024 1:34 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com>
Subject: [FRIAM] Breaking Bad and Free Will

Since one of you mentioned today that free will is a recurring FRIAM topic I was thinking about it and found this SCIAM article that argues that human beings do have the power to make conscious choices.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/free-will-is-only-an-illusion-if-you-are-too/

On the other hand the drug addicts in Breaking Bad and elsewhere clearly demonstrate that drug addiction inevitably takes away our free will and replaces it by a strong compulsion to get and consume the drug, no matter how devastating the consequences are.

Robert McKee says in his book "Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting" that true character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure. Could you say that a strong character or personality reduce our free will too, because they restrict our choices and decisions?

-J.

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