Has anybody else picked this up yet? It’s really done a number on me. Prior to reading it I would consider myself a Stoic. One of my central philosophies being that “The choices I make define who I am”.
So obviously being told that my choices were never even mine to begin with was kind of a slap in the face.
It rings true though. The choices we make at any given time are a result of our genetics, or environment, the media we’ve consumed, how tired we are…
I’m not a stranger to the concept of Ego death but it had been a hot minute since I thought about it.
Debates about “free” will increasingly sound like semantic quibbling to me. Of course if you bring your own upbringing and genetic background into the equation, you can’t be free from yourself, because what would that even mean? But at the same time, that doesn’t mean you’re not making decisions. They were just the only ones you were ever going to make.
Yes, but it has far reaching moral implications that are too often ignored. If all the decisions (and outcomes you experience in life) you make are essentially just a product of genetics and environmental influences how much inequality can you justify.
Free will should be foundational to a lot of beliefs in life because everyone should be pretty humble about whatever privileges they have in life, because they’ve acquired them mostly by luck and circumstance (more luck).
Check out the short stories ‘Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom’ and ‘What’s Expected of Us’ by Ted Chiang
Take it to the logical conclusion that you make no decision, and are a biological logic machine. The consciousness is an artifact of the process to keep the machine running efficiently. Your sense of self is an illusion.
You are not luckier to live a rich life than the Macbook is lucky to be sitting on your desk.