'Trick Slattery

'Trick Slattery is the author of Breaking the Free Will Illusion for the Betterment of Humankind. He's an author, philosopher, artist, content creator, and entrepreneur. He has loved and immersed himself in philosophy since he was teenager. It is his first and strongest passion. Throughout the years he has built a philosophy based on analytic logic and critical thinking. Some of the topics he is most interested in are of a controversial variety, but his passion for the topics and their importance drives him to want to express these ideas to others. His other passions include pen and ink line art and digital artwork.

A Few Hours Left – FREE BOOK – Breaking the Free Will Illusion

 determinism, the book  Comments Off on A Few Hours Left – FREE BOOK – Breaking the Free Will Illusion
Jun 082014
 

Only a few hours left for downloading the most awesome kindle book everrr! ….on topic of (the lack of) free will! Breaking the Free Will Illusion for the Betterment of Humankind!

Hurry up, at midnight tonight the launch promotion ends! Of course it’ll still be way worth the few bucks when it does end, but hey…why not grab it now absolutely free? And if you like it or learn something new, or if it just gives you some “food for thought” I’d love it if you gave me a Kindle review. It is new and could use some causal support!

Click on a link below and get your FREE awesomeness today!

DOWNLOAD FREE BOOK

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Jun 062014
 

Today is what I deem the official launch date of my book, Breaking the Free Will Illusion for the Betterment of Humankind. In light of this I’ll be giving my Kindle book away absolutely FREE today, Friday June 6th and tomorrow, Saturday June 7th! Just visit the Amazon link below depending on your location.

You should see the price of my book as $0 for those two days. Click “Buy now” and buy the book. If you have a Kindle ereader have it sent directly to your device. Or you can read it using an Amazon Kindle App on any computer, iPad, iPhone, tablet, or smartphone.

FRIDAY JUNE 6th and SATURDAY JUNE 7th, 2014

DOWNLOAD FREE BOOK

AMAZON.COM -USA

AMAZON.CA – Canada

AMAZON.CO.UK – United Kingdom

AMAZON.DE – Germany

AMAZON.FR – France

AMAZON.CO.JP – Japan

AMAZON.IN – India

AMAZON.IT – Italy

AMAZON.ES – Spain

AMAZON.COM.BR – Brazil

AMAZON.COM.MX – Mexico

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BREAKING THE FREE WILL ILLUSION
FOR THE BETTERMENT OF HUMANKIND

BOOK_COVER-BreakingTheFreeWillIllusion-for_Website

Find out why free will is logically incoherent and humanity is better off abandoning it. In this book I make the ultimate case against free will, as well as explain the benefits of this understanding. No longer should we be stuck in the illusion that allows so many harms in the words. The evidence against free will is just too strong.

If you download and enjoy the free book, would you be so kind as to leave an Amazon review?  This will help the books ranking on Amazon which in turn will get this philosophy out to even more people in the future. Also share on social media and tell others. As you probably have guessed, I think this understanding is pretty important.

Thank you,

‘Trick Slattery

Free Will – The Mechanism (infographic)

 compatibilism, determinism, incompatibiism, indeterminism, infographic  Comments Off on Free Will – The Mechanism (infographic)
Jun 052014
 

Though I wrote a book arguing against free will, I just came up with the mechanism that allows free will! It’s so simple:

Free_Will_The_Mechanism-INFOGRAPHIC

If you like this infographic please share it around. Educate people on the mechanism that allows free will. First the available options you think about get sucked up and taken to the system which is outside of space and time (of course). They then get thoroughly spun in the contradiction mixer, confusing any contradictory thoughts. Then, of course, they get pulled into a large box of  magic dust where they sit for around a year (though since they are outside of space and time, to willer this happens almost instantaneously).  This magic dusts gives such it’s magical ability. It then goes through the tubes of nonsense and into the logic removal system which strips any need for logical consistency or identity. Then it goes to the free will decision injector which of course injects the freely willed decision back into the physical realm and into the brain of the person. There you have it, the free will mechanism. And since the infographic shows a picture of it, we can say it’s scientifically proven. Why not. 😉

Have fun with this infographic. All I asked is you don’t change it.

And if you really really like this, you might want to check out the shirt with this mechanism on it!

Also, support my efforts and check out the book Breaking the Free Will Illusion for the Betterment of Humankind on Amazon Kindle today!

Thanks,

‘Trick

Free Will: Where the Case Against It is Located

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Jun 022014
 

This post isn’t going to make the case against free will. If you want that case in all of it’s glory, check out my book Breaking the Free Will Illusion for the Betterment of Humankind.

Rather, this post is going to be about where the case against free will resides, meaning where it sits and what’s being looked at when the case is being made.

First thing first, I want to address burden of proof. Though I do go over this quickly in the book as well, it’s important to point out when addressing “where the case against free will is” that any such case is in the form of “proving a negative”. In other words, the person making the claim of something “existing” always carries the burden of proof to show that such exists, and that it exists as something more than just a “feeling” or “intuition”. To put it another way, no one I know of is denying that people experience a “feeling” of free will or an “intuition” about it.  Of course we do.

We, after all, never see the variables that output our thoughts, decisions, and actions. To us, it seems like all of those options presented before us are all viable options. The illusion of free will exists – as an illusion. As something we intuit (though incorrectly). There is little or no doubt about that. It’s when people say that free will is more than a feeling or illusion that they hold all of the burden of providing proof for their existence claim.

Regardless of this, because people do experience this illusion, and the belief in “actual” free will is pervasive, hard determinists or incompatibilists often feel they have some obligation to “prove a negative”. To shift that burden of proof. To show that free will doesn’t in fact exist, rather than to ask for the evidence for free will – which always seems to come up with something like “we experience it” and then builds on that.

When we look down a straight train track we often experience parallel train tracks converging at the horizon. As we watch a train go down those tracks we see it become smaller and smaller until it eventually vanishes. We know, however, that this is not the case. We know that if we get on a train and ride it toward the horizon that we will not get smaller and smaller until we vanish, or crash because what we thought were parallel train tracks actually converge. We understand the limitations of or perception as well as have an understanding of perspective. We don’t even have to think about it, we simply know that there is no convergence or that the train isn’t literally shrinking. We have no fear of these sorts when riding on that train.

Likewise, we can know that free will is incoherent, even if we seem to experience something like it. That’s because we can actually prove the negative. We don’t have to wait for someone to attempt to prove that free will exists. We don’t have to say “we shouldn’t believe it until it’s proven”, but rather we can say “we shouldn’t believe it because it has been disproven”. A much stronger, burden shifting, case.

The case against free will is within that “proving a negative” arena that most scientifically or logically minded people understand that there is still a burden for the person making the claim itself. Once that’s clear, we can actually move on to actually proving that negative. That’s done within the confines of logic, meaning the methodologies of deduction as well as induction (our best standards of knowledge). The scientific method uses both induction and deduction, and therefore is an example of a logical methodology. But even before the scientific method we can deductively understand that colorless pink square circles are self-contradictory  – rendering them logically incoherent.

boxes_of_contradictions-FOR_BLOG_POST

Likewise, this is where the case against free will is. We can understand that the universe (or beyond?) is either deterministic (meaning everything has a cause) or indeterministic (meaning that some acausal events can occur). Once we understand these two possibilities we can assess if free will makes sense within them. As it turns out, free will is entirely logically incompatible with those two states. Quantum mechanics can’t free it. Different conceptions of time can’t free it. Some non-physical view can’t free it. It’s simply as logically incoherent as those colorless pink square circles are.

And that’s more than sufficient. With just that alone it’s a closed case. The idea of free will has been found guilty of being complete nonsense. But the case against free will doesn’t stop there. When we get into science and in particular neuroscience, we come up with experiments that seem to align with the fact that this magical ability just doesn’t exist. For example, the fact that we can, for the most part, know if a person will press a button held by their left hand or one held by their right hand, 7 to 10 seconds before they are consciously aware of which button they have decided to press. It’s just more dirt on the coffin of free will – and there will be more of that to come.

So where is the case against free will? It’s in logic, reason, critical thinking, and the willingness to shift the burden to prove a negative. The case is within the logical incoherence of the free will position. Where it’s not located is within the realm of wishful thinking, dogma, fantasy, imagination, or illusion. Those areas are reserved for the cases supporting free will. 😉

Interested in reading the actual case? Well that’s much longer than a single post can handle:

The Kindle ebook version is now available!

buy-now-amazon-button

BTFWI_BOOK_COVER

Breaking the Free Will Illusion
for the Betterment of Humankind

Don’t have a Kindle Ereader? That’s okay, use a free Kindle App on your computer, tablet, or smartphone!

A Tippling Philosopher – My Unfreely Willed Guest Post

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May 302014
 

I wrote a guest post on A Tippling Philosopher and I thank Jonathan for having me. The post talks about the dangers of free will and gives a few reasons why we are better off abandoning the belief in it. Take a look here:

Losing the Belief in Free Will is for the Best

(click on above link to go to the guest post)

I met Jonathan, owner of the Tippling Philosopher blog, and author of a number of interesting books, a few years back while on facebook. I explained to him I was in the process of writing my book on the lack of free will. He had written his own book on the free will debate titled: Free Will? An investigation into whether we have free will, or whether I was always going to write this book. Of course I downloaded it to my Kindle and read it at that time. I found he shares many of the same philosophical understandings surrounding the topic.

If you are looking for an excellent understanding of the three primary compatibilist, libertarian, and determinist views of free will, this book is an excellent read that goes over many of the common philosophical arguments for each.

Now that my book is out it’s great that people like Jonathan are willing to support my philosophical endeavors by having me guest post (and he’s going to read my book and review it too). Us un-free-will-ists need to stick together. This is about educating people on this important topic, and the more people doing so the better.

It’s best to build communities by networking with others who hold this understanding.

 

Ta Da – The eBook (on our lack of free will) is out on Amazon!

 uncategorized  Comments Off on Ta Da – The eBook (on our lack of free will) is out on Amazon!
May 212014
 

Now I just need to promote it!

That’s right, my ebook Breaking the Free Will Illusion for the Betterment of Humankind is finally out on Amazon! Woooohooo! This is a milestone for me. It’s currently only in ebook (Kindle) format, but that will eventually change as a physical book is built.

By the way, did you know you don’t need a Kindle eReader to read Kindle books from Amazon? You can use apps for your iPad or iPhone, or even download a Kindle Reading App to you computer and read them there (there is also a Kindle cloud reader which allows you to read them right in your browser)! There are also apps for other smartphones and tablets as well! So even if you don’t have a Kindle eReader (personally, I like the ones with e-ink technology – better than reading a physical book any day!)

If anyone would like to review the book on their blog let me know and I’ll send out a review copy of the ebook. I’m also looking for Amazon reviews as right now the ebook is in no-mans-land (meaning it might as well be sitting in the middle of a desert or floating around in space next to Russell’s Teapot). I’ll be doing a book promotion and an “official” launch shortly to get things going on the book.

Anyway, please do check it out at the link below! And if you left me a wonderful Amazon review send me an email and let me know!  I want to thank you personally for your support!

I’ve also been putting up some neat “no free will” products here for anyone interested in spreading the meme that there is no free will.

Website Update, Cover Change, and Brand Logo (no free will)

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May 062014
 

I know I haven’t really said anything profound on this blog as of yet. I’ve basically been using it as a status update on my book and this site. Eventually, it will get to a point where I’ll be adding real content to my blog posts, but for now this is all I have time for.  My breaking the free will illusion book is going to be out on Amazon Kindle any time now. It’ll start as a Kindle only book, but eventually there’ll be a hard copy version as well. There are certain reasons I think ebooks should be a primary focus, especially for a philosophical topic such as this. And Amazon has a program called KDP select which really will be useful in initially promoting the book.

I also revamped the look of this website once again and adjusted the cover of my soon to be released book. I thought the last one seemed a bit too dark and perhaps somber, so I lightened things up quite a bit. Understanding that free will is an illusion is much brighter and happier experience, so the book cover had to correlate with that. I also made the text much bolder so it shows up better as a thumbnail. Here’s the much improved cover:

BOOK_COVER-BreakingTheFreeWillIllusion-for_Website

Notice the logo on it. I’m also creating a brand to help promote the understanding that free will is an illusion. I wanted the brand logo to be simple, easy to remember, all one color, and representative of the breaking of the free will illusion. Here’s the brand design I decided on:

BTFWI-LOGO-SMALL

The three smaller circles represent supposed “viable option”, the inside medium sized circle represents the “willer”, and of course the large thicker circle with the line represents the breaking of the illusion. This symbol is the perfect representation to say that you don’t believe in free will, so it’s the “brand” logo for my book or any other “no free will” products I create to support this extremely important understanding.  There are a number of ways to get information to people, and I think they all should be used. Creating a brand around an idea or concept is one way to spread that idea and concept that shouldn’t be overlooked.

And since I’m an artist as well as a philosopher, it only makes sense to use all of my talents for the causes I find important. I have many plans in the works to hopefully be able to devote more and more time to my philosophy and artwork. These are, after all, my true passions — with philosophy being #1 on my list simply because I want to make a difference in the world, and art being #2.

If you think you might be interested in the topic of free will (the lack of) – subscribe to my infrequent mailing list in the sidebar.

 

 

Mar 122014
 

I have someone proofing / editing my book as I type this. I’m excited to get the book (Breaking the Free Will Illusion for the Betterment of Humankind) out very soon! Right now I’m illustrating some key points and some fun ones as well. Here is a sampler of one of the illustrations that has to do with the nature of causal events (the cute round figure) and acausal events (the crazy eyed pointy figure “popping” into existence).

7-5-cause_and acausal_b_or_c-TRICK_SLATTERY

Of course the book explains what the picture is addressing,  but this is just to give you an idea about some of the imagery the book will contain within it. I’ll probably be displaying some further illustrations on this blog as I go along. After all, I’m not just a philosopher and writer, but an illustrator and graphic designer as well.
Once I go over the editing with a fine toothed comb, I’ll be ready to add in my illustrations and place my book on Amazon.com. I’ve decided that ebook format is really the future and the way I want to go. Initially it will only be available on Amazon in Kindle format (which a number of different ereaders, devices, and computers can read), but later there will be a hardcopy book as well. After some time on Amazon I may decide to place the book in other formats also, but for at least 90 days the book will be exclusive to Amazon.

So stay tuned to the progress of the book by subscribing to this blog, or connect with me on twitter or other social media connections.

Oct 182013
 

I’ve recreated the cover of my book and revamped my website. Yes, I’m still editing it. It’s taking a long time as I’m quite the perfectionist. I’m thinking I will have to let a few things go in regards to wording if I’m ever to get my book out to the world (at least for the first edition)! As you might know, I’m not only a writer of philosophy, but I’m also an artist (see TricksPlace.com), a WordPress site builder / designer, a freelancer, and a entrepreneur (I always have a project going on). I don’t write my books full-time for a living (though would love to as they are my passion…along with my art that is).

That being said, I’m also looking to illustrate parts of my book, another time consuming objective if I get to it. We’ll see how many illustrations I can do that can help people visualize certain key concepts.

This site I had just sort of thrown up a while back, and I’m just now starting to revamp it. I’ve recreated my book cover (done in Photoshop) and I also added a new theme for the website with a new header based on the book cover!

My new book cover:

Breaking the Free Will Illusion - BOOK COVER

Let me know what you think in the comments below! The idea was to keep it readable and simple, sort of showing a zoomed out “watcher” perceptive of inter-related connections. No doubt I may end up revising it more before the book is finally complete. We’ll see.

Anyway, I may blog on here a little more frequently, so please connect by subscribing.

Welcome to Breaking the Free Will Illusion

 uncategorized  Comments Off on Welcome to Breaking the Free Will Illusion
Sep 212012
 

Welcome to the “Breaking the Free Will Illusion for the Betterment of Humankind” website. This is a website for the book written by ‘Trick Slattery in regards to why Free Will (in the sense that holds important implications) is incoherent and why it conceptually needs to be abandoned.

The book is currently being written (‘Trick is on the 2nd draft of this book).