Humans have an auto run system built in. This is you, as the automatic actions are for your survival, and I will call this "Hardware" you. Your body tells you when you need things such as sleep and food. Then there is the you that controls the body aka "Software" you. The software telling the hardware what to do. For years I thought free will meant that the software is the force driving the machine, but recent theories have me thinking that free will is limited. I think it's real, but minor.
Food cravings tend to be signals from the hardware telling the software it needs specific nutrition. An easy example would be when your hardware says," I need sodium, go eat some chips." You then eat the chips, and often you feel that you freely wanted to eat the chips.
Is that really free though?
that opens up the case that everything you eat is directed as orders given to you with the notion of it was your idea. I realized that the hardware overrides the software whenever it pleases to fulfill needs.
What makes me still believe in free will is that the software can override the hardware. You can force yourself to eat healthy, sleep early, work out, etc. We can choose to live lies as well. Thing is... all of these things hurt. For example. I want you the reader to sit still for five minutes. Just do nothing. Tell your mind what to think, not the other way around. It hurts, as if the hardware is stronger than the software, and it is. Thing is. You have no control about what thoughts will come. They just happen and you then must sort them out all day. Sure you can meditate and increase the strength of your software, but hardware always wins.
Is a purpose of being human to command oneself? It sounds to me that we are hardly free and are running on the will of the hardware.
Id like to hear your thoughts on the hardware/software system that is being human.