Buenos!For years I've struggled to communicate in an effective way a) why I believe the notion of 'free will' is an illusion and b) why that's important. I think I may have come up with a meaningful analogy--let me try it out here:I bought a new computer last week. When I opened it, it asked me whether I wanted to transfer software from another source, which I did; I transferred everything from my old computer. So--except for the updated hardware--my new computer is identical to my old one. Completely. Imagine this was possible in humans. Imagine that we somehow had the ability, at this very moment, to make an exact copy of you, atom by atom, cell by cell. That would mean that this new version of you would have the exact same memories and experiences, feelings, thoughts, everything, as you. Ok? If that were the case, does it seem plausible to you that this carbon copy of you would have the ability to make any choices different from the ones the actual you makes? If we rewound time by ten seconds or ten years, would the copy differ in any of their thoughts or actions compared to your actual thoughts and actions? Would he or she have decided to not have milk with the cup of coffee you, in fact, did have milk with? Would they have decided to punch a person in the face that one time you restricted yourself? Would they, with their exact identical experiences and memories, have been happy that one time when you were sad, angry when you were equanimous? I think the answer is a pretty clear-cut no and no matter how hard I tryy I can't see how a person who believes in the basic laws of this natural world would disagree so I'm gonna assume you also don't disagree. So then now let's remove the copy from the equation once again and just focus on you. If an exact copy of you couldn't possibly have thought or acted differently in any given situation, how could you? The answer is you couldn't. You couldn't, you couldn't, you couldn't. You've done exactly what you could do every second of your life hitherto and it will continue like that until your dying breath. Everything that happens in this universe has been set in motion by something that came before it--something you had no power over.I find this little computer example to actually be a convincing take on the question of whether we humans--or any other beings--have free will, understood as the ability to have done differently than we did in any given situation. Next up is the question of why this matters, why it alters our understanding of what is fair and right. That's for another time. For now, please proceed to this week's selection. Enjoy, keep reading, and have a determined week ahead.
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Articles curated by JSL - Issue #195
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Buenos!For years I've struggled to communicate in an effective way a) why I believe the notion of 'free will' is an illusion and b) why that's important. I think I may have come up with a meaningful analogy--let me try it out here:I bought a new computer last week. When I opened it, it asked me whether I wanted to transfer software from another source, which I did; I transferred everything from my old computer. So--except for the updated hardware--my new computer is identical to my old one. Completely. Imagine this was possible in humans. Imagine that we somehow had the ability, at this very moment, to make an exact copy of you, atom by atom, cell by cell. That would mean that this new version of you would have the exact same memories and experiences, feelings, thoughts, everything, as you. Ok? If that were the case, does it seem plausible to you that this carbon copy of you would have the ability to make any choices different from the ones the actual you makes? If we rewound time by ten seconds or ten years, would the copy differ in any of their thoughts or actions compared to your actual thoughts and actions? Would he or she have decided to not have milk with the cup of coffee you, in fact, did have milk with? Would they have decided to punch a person in the face that one time you restricted yourself? Would they, with their exact identical experiences and memories, have been happy that one time when you were sad, angry when you were equanimous? I think the answer is a pretty clear-cut no and no matter how hard I tryy I can't see how a person who believes in the basic laws of this natural world would disagree so I'm gonna assume you also don't disagree. So then now let's remove the copy from the equation once again and just focus on you. If an exact copy of you couldn't possibly have thought or acted differently in any given situation, how could you? The answer is you couldn't. You couldn't, you couldn't, you couldn't. You've done exactly what you could do every second of your life hitherto and it will continue like that until your dying breath. Everything that happens in this universe has been set in motion by something that came before it--something you had no power over.I find this little computer example to actually be a convincing take on the question of whether we humans--or any other beings--have free will, understood as the ability to have done differently than we did in any given situation. Next up is the question of why this matters, why it alters our understanding of what is fair and right. That's for another time. For now, please proceed to this week's selection. Enjoy, keep reading, and have a determined week ahead.