Published on 12, July, 2020
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?
I Sperg said:communism (their end goal) has created some of the most viciously poor and murdererous societies ever seen.
That is partly because Communist revolutions happened in some of the most backward, agrarian countries with long histories of despotic government. Marx believed that any Communist revolution would happen in advanced industrialised countries like Britain and Germany.
When Leftists enjoying the best standard of living (If not quality of life) in recorded human history, describe the "catastrophic failures of capitalism", and completely miss how communism (their end goal) has created some of the most viciously poor and murdererous societies ever seen.
Even when we gloss over the fact that a NAZI is a NATIONAL SOCIALIST there is still Stalin and Pol Pot and other shining beacons of socialist leadership & sucess to cause plenty of cognitive dissonance with the left/right paradigm.
If you want to know who really rules you, ask who it is that you are not allowed to critise in any way.
It sure isn't any of the clowns that you "vote" into power, those are just carefully compromised puppets who do exactly as they are told by the people who selected and groomed them for their positions.
The left / right paradigm is clearly an illusion, if you watch it long enough as a dispassionate observer.
It bears repeating, both sides work for the same masters.
FFS, WAKE UP!!!
Interesting take. You might want to read some of Sartre's work, such as The Roads to Freedom trilogy. His existential philosophy is about finding freedom in a meaningless world.
Libertarians (who are glorified right-wingers) make the argument for free will. It's the whole thrust of their stance, which is put in place to delude themselves from acknowledging the catastrophic failures of capitalism. In America there are over 60% of people living from paycheck to paycheck and libertarians are there boasting about "free will" as it's convenient for their avarice.
Organised religion has a big part in many of these flights of fancy.
Sorry about the wall of text, it just happened... ;c}
Even if we do not actually have free will, our very limited connection to reality (Caused by lack of breadth of knowledge) gives us the illusion of free will.
But as even a cursory dip into what is called "Conspiracy theory" clearly reveals, unscrupulous and unpleasant people by means of advanced presentaion skills can sometimes alter our behaviour without us even being aware of it. Advertising, being a perfect example of the phenomenon. Where is our free will there? Especially when they seek to indflucence our choices, via such diabolical techniques such as "Depth Manipulation"...
"Opinion Former" is a job description... It's a very different thing to "influencer" which is a different, far less scientific data driven & more honest & tranpsarent occupation.
In my little limited life, I have found that I do things and take actions that are sometimes not in my best interest, which has given me a lifetime of challenge to try and overcome. It's given me great cause to reflect on the nature of free will,and how it works.
There are so many times I have excercised my "free will" to perhaps accomplish a project, where I have planned for sucess, estimated my ability and resources correctly, and been flawless in my execution, yet it has seemed that a "thwarting demon" that can tweak probabilty was watching my every move, and at the appropriate times unforseeable events arose to ensure that I was unable to excercise my free wiill.TO BE FAIR, I've also had a lot of teh otehr kind off events where peopel ask me how the *bleep* did you get out of that one?
So to me it does seem that whilst I can think I am setting my course in one direction, it's only likely to work if I "go with the flow" of creation.
I am sorry, but I simply cannot except random causality as the origin of the carefully interlocking evrything has to work "just so" (And we mess with it at our peril) nature of reality. I've had to learn a great deal about the tiny things and forces that make our world work in my personal investigation of nucleonics, and in my judgement it's a product of careful and unfathomably clever design and it's all made of nothing at all, except the design itself.
I cannot do anyting else but submit to the Idea that there is Creator, and a plan, and I am a part of it, whether willing or unwilling, accepting or in denial.
What I do doesn't matter at all in the grand scheme of things (unless it does!) except to me. And the creator, of course in a teeny tiny almost imperceptible (if you aren't the creator) kinda way..
In reality all that philosophical stuff is so far above my paygrade, that I quickly get lost in it all, and it does not help when I keep discovering areas where as a young man I had completely the wrong end of the stick!
A bit of honest observation and reading the news stongly suggests that the rest of you aren't any better overall though.. (some of you are "better", some of you "worse" that me over a wide rage of scenarios and situations ofc)
On the plus side, I do seem to have choices, and often my choices do deliver predicatble outcomes and "progress" towards my chosen objectives.
I can make chaotic choices, like Luke Rheinharts "Diceman" OR I can make connected choices in an effort to establish a style perhaps or even work towards accomplishing an objective that will outlast my time on this earth.
OR
I can sit in a darkened room playing video games.
Choices, yes, true free will, no.
Seems to be the game.
Play to win, or play for the pleasure of playing, or leave the table.
Seems like I have free will, But.
Everyting I have learned over my life about how designed things work, how they can only work if everything is configured within acceptable tolerances, applies to the microscopic and macroscpic reality at every level Ive been able to look.
I claim to be a Christian simply because Jesus offered a ready made framework for my life and an example to follow that when I tested it, worked far better than the unpleasant chaos that it replaced. I find I like the lifestyle providing I don't try and mix with other Christians too much they always seem to think differntly about God to me, and worse think it is important..
I'm too naturally unpleasant and misguded to be a good Christian of course, but I am inclined to keep trying.
Right up until I face personal survival choices, I seem to operate comepletely differently then.
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.
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.
Perhaps the clue is within the name? Demon?
Hope springs eternal. Absolution and/or fate and/or incalculablility (not a word - but should be) are beyond the pale (one.). Like you, OranG.Utan, I keep an open mind too.....and also study.....and also keep my eyes WIDE, wide open!
Perhaps demons are the inevitable result if we only choose to believe in.......demons?
I wish our current cohort of fellow humans considered these matters more, in the round.....without it descending into.......Twitter!! (OK - move with the times (reluctantly)...X)
My opinion, fwiw.