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Date:    2021 Apr  2 08:30
From:    dentin
Subject: Free Will vs. Predestination
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> Is there really such a Thing as Free Will?

No, there isn't.  However, that doesn't matter:  we have the appearance
of free will, and that's good enough.

> Some believe that our Social interactions are a Test created by The Gods
> as a way of testing us to allow us to show our True Selves.

There are no gods.  There is only physics, particles and fields and forces
and probabilities, at the floor of reality.  This is what everything we
know about the universe points to.  And we know a lot about the universe.

> In this manner, we Mortals may reveal whether we are one of The Wicked
> or of The Just.

'Wicked', 'just', 'right', 'wrong', 'good', and 'evil' - none of these
things exist other than as social agreements with have with others in our
society.  There's no particle labeled 'goodness', there's no fundamental
force that represents 'evil'.

> Some shudder at the Responsibility that goes along with Choice.

Yes.  Being responsible is hard.  Even if we don't actually have free will,
it sure looks like we do.  You need to decide for yourself:  am I
predestined to be a miserable failure my whole life?  Or am I predestined
to be someone who keeps picking themself up, keeps trying, and eventually
succeeds?

I don't know what I'm predestined to ultimately be, but I know that if I
give up all hope and commit suicide, then my path will have been to be a
failure.  I'd like to think I'm not on a path like that.

> That such Social abominations exist, whether they exist as a Temptation or
> as a Vile Pit to stumble upon, some might say suggests that The Gods are
> not solemn as a whole, but are instead capricious.

No, the prevalence of awful things actually suggests is that if there are
gods, they just plain don't care about us.  The universe isn't our friend,
and things aren't guaranteed to work out.  We could get hit by an asteroid
tomorrow, and that would be the literal end of the human race, forever.

Think about that for a moment:  everyone dead, tomorrow.  You, everyone you
know, gone.  The cities and towns and buildings, all flattened by a huge
blast wave that literally rips up the crust of the earth.  No more people
ever.  Maybe a few plants and fish in a few thousand years.

Really think about that.  There's nothing preventing that, no god to step
in, no last minute saviour or movie magic that saves us.  We all just die,
tomorrow, and that's the end of humanity, forever.

That's reality.  The universe doesn't care about us, any more than we care
about the ants we step on.  And that's why it's important that we try to be
responsible for our own future:  if we're the kind of people who don't try,
then we're obviously the kind of people who fail and go extinct.

I'd like to not go extinct, so I'm going to try.

-dentin


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