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Originally Posted by ArrJay
All well said and in particular the need to be skeptical. Nevertheless, I'm not entirely convinced human beings have a massive amount of "free will": we are all products of our parenting in particular, our culture, our country, our time in history and sheer unmitigated luck! Sure, we often have choices but those choices have to be made in the context of the aforementioned. For example, cultures where the killing of infants or old people has been deemed necessary for the group to survive - in our western culture it wouldn't happen now and it would be rated as the baddest of bad karma; but not, say, in some other places and times where the weakest weren't "carried" or supported and were eliminated to make it easier for the group to continue on. There are many such cultural examples through human history.
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ArrJay,
But what you describe above (ie killing the weak), while outside of socially acceptable behavior, is still free will. If you want to kill the weak you can, but depending upon the society, there may be a price you will have to pay for making that free will decision.
Regards,
EP