I don't believe in free will

Causality has always been a fascinating subject to me. A fun thought exercise I like to do is trace back events that needed to happen for things in my life to exist as they do now, and see what's the most obscure thing that was vital to that series. That and the understanding of the probability of any given individual's existence has made me appreciate how intricate every single life is. We're all products of a specific series of events, consisting of a near incalculable number of nuances and distinctions that we might never hope to fully understand and appreciate.

I learned in recent years the concept of Laplace's Demon. A hypothetical being capable of observing every particle of the universe and its current momentum, if I recall it right. That such a being, with a sufficient intellect, could accurately predict the future if it could calculate where every particle has come from and in what it's present momentum is.

Thinking about these things has given me the opinion that chaos is just our inability to fully calculate the momentum of all of the contents of the universe. That every single thing that happens, could not have possibly happened any other way, because the series of events that lead to every moment were put in motion from the instant the universe was created.

I'm not an individual. I don't have free will. I don't make choices. Everything I do, I was always going to do exactly as it pans out. And any element of it that goes unpredictably is simply my lack of awareness of all the elements contributing to whatever comes out of it. But that even then, those elements were always guaranteed to come into play at that moment.

It might sound like I'm trying to absolve myself of responsibility for my decisions. But if I'm right, then I was always going to come to these conclusions, so who's to say what's right and wrong?

But in all things I try to keep an open mind. What do you all think?

Parents
  • I think we do have free will but I also think when we are young and naive we have less of it than when we are older. Young peope make rash decisions because they don't know they're being rash. Often people don't have the best upbringing or parents or family and it takes time to learn how to make good decisions.

  • Never underestimate the young!  I believe that children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way.  I believe that a person once said that!? (Again, for some light relief for us oldies....who knew Neverland!)

    "A man, old in days, will not hesitate to ask a young child, the meaning of life....etc". Again, I believe a different person (perhaps more weighty in their influence) also said that, Once Upon a Time.

    I like a bit of wordplay.  Forgive me.  I should be in dreamland myself now.  Nite nite.

Reply
  • Never underestimate the young!  I believe that children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way.  I believe that a person once said that!? (Again, for some light relief for us oldies....who knew Neverland!)

    "A man, old in days, will not hesitate to ask a young child, the meaning of life....etc". Again, I believe a different person (perhaps more weighty in their influence) also said that, Once Upon a Time.

    I like a bit of wordplay.  Forgive me.  I should be in dreamland myself now.  Nite nite.

Children