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.
Yes, they are choices in that nobody is technically forcing you to make a certain choice at gun point. But no, they are not free choices in that there’s always external or internal causes for why you make a certain choice in a specific moment that are predetermined by previous experience, mood, genetics etc. and thus, out of your control.
For example, in terms of media, this is entirely dependent on what I’ve been previously exposed to, what peers think about certain types of media, likes and dislikes. Sure, they can be shaped over time, but this is also a causal process.Same goes for the environment, we already know that certain types of people are less likely to seek out certain types of environments based on their predispositions, mood, priming, etc.
We currently don’t have evidence for the idea that there is any other driving factor behind our choices (like a soul for instance) that is not affected by external influences.