If you're not at all interested in thinking, better stop reading this about now.

For those who have decided to press on, the following is a disjointed rant on my opinions on Determinism, the question of whether or not we possess "Free Will," and maybe some other things.

I am not religious, because no matter how hard I try (not very hard, actually) I just can't believe in something as plausible as the Easter Bunny, Magic, or Santa Claus. I guess the technical term would be atheism: a lack of belief in any supreme power. I say atheism, not agnosticism, as I really don't think a supreme being that cares for and watches of humanity exists, in the exact same way that I do not believe there is a man who dresses in a red suit and delivers presents every year. If you wish to read about the difference between the two (agnosticism and atheism), please go here.

What does all that have to do with Determinism? I think it has very little to do with it, but other people sure do. I think they get a little confused, and assume that when I say that I'm a Determinist, and don't believe in Free Will, that I mean I am religious, and trust in some "God" to guide me. I don't. Another point of confusion is the similarity between Determinism and Fatalism. A simple way to remember the difference is: "A Fatalist's future is reached no matter how he struggles, while a Determinist's future is reached through his struggle. See? Different. For a more in-depth discussion of their differences, I encourage you to do read this.

Even though I don't believe in Free Will, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that I do have Free Will. Shall I eat cake or not eat it? Sure feels like I chose not to eat the cake, all on my own. This annoys me a little, it's as if the world is constantly trying to change my mind. Whenever it almost does though, I just think about what would happen if I picked up a tennis ball, raised it to a height of 1.2m above the ground, then dropped it. It'd leave my hand, accelerate towards the ground, then bounce up a little bit when it finally hit the ground. Maybe it'd bounce a few times, it depends on the surface. The point is, I know it would fall from my hand. I can predict it. How do I know? I have a standard understanding of basic causation, which I have learned largely through trial and error as a baby, or have been able to deduce on my own, based on inferences about past events. Gravity causes objects to move towards the ground until they come to rest. This applies to all things that belong to this Universe. We rely on our understanding of causation, the knowledge that an outcome is determined by its preceding event, to function. What if the ball floated in the air, or burst into flames when released from my grip? If the world we live in wasn't at least somewhat predictable, it would not be a very comfortable place to live.

Ha! I hear you say, he's admitted that the world is only somewhat predictable! Yes, I admit that I can't predict every future event, I'll go even further and say that I don't think anything will be able to predict every future event, ever. This doesn't mean, however, that I don't think that it is possible that any future even can be predicted, it simply means that I don't think the Big Book of All Events will be finished any time soon. Simple events, like what will happen when I release a tennis ball, are easy to predict, as there are relatively few variables involved. The outcome of more complex events are more difficult to predict, and that difficulty increases with each additional variable. To predict the outcome of complex events, we use Statistics.

People are predictable enough for Statistics to work. Take supermarkets, for example. Ever wondered why they all have the same general layout? It is because humans buy more when herded about the store in a particular manner. I think that we think we have free will, but actually don't. It's quite easy to assume that a human has free will, as it is often difficult to understand some people's motives for certain actions. But I think it is not that humans have free will, it is that humans aren't tennis balls, we are far more complex. Like I said above, complex events are more difficult to predict than simple ones. We're getting better at it though. So my "choosing" to not eat the cake was not an example of free will, it was an event caused by the events preceding it. For some reason, presumably due to how a human mind works, I perceived that I chose to do not eat.

The main reason that I stick to Determinism, aside from all of the above, is that I don't think that any part of us exists outside of the physical. That is to say, I don't think that we have a soul, I don't think that consciousness is magic, and I don't think that anything that is what we are is unexplainable. In time, we will understand ourselves, and know how our minds work. As someone who hopes to one day contribute to the "understanding our minds" effort, it wouldn't make much sense if I believed that the mind existed as some non-physical thing. It would be dooming myself to a life of futile research, attempting to explain something that is unexplainable.

Determinism is a tough one, I'm constantly reviewing my stance on it, but since I initially made up my mind, it hasn't changed. It helps me that it seems society secretly believes it is true also, how else do we expect the penal system to work? If we didn't think future was determined by events that happen now, why would we punish?

What do you think: do you choose things, all on your own, or are you guided by causality?

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On a side note, I've been doing little of interest here in China.

Here are some news articles I found interesting:

Stem Cell Shots Rescue Terminally Ill Children

Switching on Brain-Computer Interface

Unborn Souls No Longer at Risk From Evil Stem Cell Researchers

Also, I've added another Chinese Idiom.

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Tags: Philosophy | 哲学