The Pointless Conversation
I still see it as a somewhat pointless discussion, but the idea of free will and determinism has been of interest to me lately. I am a determinist. Maybe it has become of interest to me because I see it as somewhat foolish to believe that one’s choices are not directed by socio-cultural, psychological, and phylogenetic influences. Also, I haven't read anything about the Determinism/Free Will debate because I think it is incredibly dry (what does that say for what is to follow, haha), but this is what I have come up with on the topic.
(Click to Enlarge - This proves no point and is a horrible representation, but its randomness makes it kind of funny)
A recent example: a group of friends were sitting around a table at a local bar. One of these friends is a very atypical friend behaviorally. She was feeling antsy and decided to stand while the rest of us sat. Immediately we all took notice. Two others joined her when she revealed her slight insecurity of standing alone. All three of these people were visibly uncomfortable with their “chosen” behavior. It was unacceptable, socio-culturally, to be standing while the rest of us sat. Some at the table verbally told them this in a joking manner trying to get them to sit again. After a very brief period of standing they did all sit again.
The first girl who stood did so because she felt antsy, has generally atypical social behavior (though it isn’t bad), and was less uncomfortable than others would have been doing the same thing. The other too people stood because they felt empathetic. (Some speculation here) They had probably been conditioned over time to care less about what non-persons (see definition one and the footnote below) think of what they do. Combine this with a sense of empathy for the feelings of a friend and some social boldness and they would feel inclined to move. Others of us were not so inclined and it reflected in our verbal behavior with words of criticism trying to correct the inappropriate behavior of others. I would contend that had we known sufficient information about the conditioning of each of those individuals in the past, we could have accurately predicted their behavior.
The person that believes in Free Will has to argue that psychological conditioning (cultural conditioning included), previous choices, and previous memories, have little bearing on how/why we make our current decisions. In fact, our current decision is entirely based on the influences and outcomes of previous decisions. They also have to do with stubbornness, empathy, hate, love, fear, anger, rashness, etc. whatever emotion the decision maker (DM) is feeling at that moment. Also, how well the DM can control his/her anger or the wisdom to pause before making his/her decision, then it will be much more rational of a process.
Determinism is the elephant in the room. We all talk about our world as if it is determined. When you meet a person you form an impression of them so you can more accurately predict their behavior and more accurately respond to it. When someone asks you how you might respond to such and such a situation you already have a decent idea because of similar situations you may have already responded to.
How horrible would it be to live in a free will world? Where previous experiences, memories, tales and myths, genetics, socio-cultural norms, and endless other influences have little to no bearing on making a decision? How clumsy and random it would be. Our brains categorize things on the predictive nature of humans and the world we live in. We call it wisdom when people do this well. We all know the world is determined, but we are all too afraid to say that we don’t have much control over how our lives work. I’ve created a habit of drinking coffee, and no matter how much I would like to fight this urge I am on the way to the café right now.
Footnote: We tend to make people into objects when we are in crowds so our brains don’t have to process all the information that goes with creating an impression of an individual.
Maybe I shouldn't categorize this under "Freethought" but "Determined Thought." God, I have a dry sense of humor.
(Click to Enlarge - This proves no point and is a horrible representation, but its randomness makes it kind of funny)
A recent example: a group of friends were sitting around a table at a local bar. One of these friends is a very atypical friend behaviorally. She was feeling antsy and decided to stand while the rest of us sat. Immediately we all took notice. Two others joined her when she revealed her slight insecurity of standing alone. All three of these people were visibly uncomfortable with their “chosen” behavior. It was unacceptable, socio-culturally, to be standing while the rest of us sat. Some at the table verbally told them this in a joking manner trying to get them to sit again. After a very brief period of standing they did all sit again.
The first girl who stood did so because she felt antsy, has generally atypical social behavior (though it isn’t bad), and was less uncomfortable than others would have been doing the same thing. The other too people stood because they felt empathetic. (Some speculation here) They had probably been conditioned over time to care less about what non-persons (see definition one and the footnote below) think of what they do. Combine this with a sense of empathy for the feelings of a friend and some social boldness and they would feel inclined to move. Others of us were not so inclined and it reflected in our verbal behavior with words of criticism trying to correct the inappropriate behavior of others. I would contend that had we known sufficient information about the conditioning of each of those individuals in the past, we could have accurately predicted their behavior.
The person that believes in Free Will has to argue that psychological conditioning (cultural conditioning included), previous choices, and previous memories, have little bearing on how/why we make our current decisions. In fact, our current decision is entirely based on the influences and outcomes of previous decisions. They also have to do with stubbornness, empathy, hate, love, fear, anger, rashness, etc. whatever emotion the decision maker (DM) is feeling at that moment. Also, how well the DM can control his/her anger or the wisdom to pause before making his/her decision, then it will be much more rational of a process.
Determinism is the elephant in the room. We all talk about our world as if it is determined. When you meet a person you form an impression of them so you can more accurately predict their behavior and more accurately respond to it. When someone asks you how you might respond to such and such a situation you already have a decent idea because of similar situations you may have already responded to.
How horrible would it be to live in a free will world? Where previous experiences, memories, tales and myths, genetics, socio-cultural norms, and endless other influences have little to no bearing on making a decision? How clumsy and random it would be. Our brains categorize things on the predictive nature of humans and the world we live in. We call it wisdom when people do this well. We all know the world is determined, but we are all too afraid to say that we don’t have much control over how our lives work. I’ve created a habit of drinking coffee, and no matter how much I would like to fight this urge I am on the way to the café right now.
Footnote: We tend to make people into objects when we are in crowds so our brains don’t have to process all the information that goes with creating an impression of an individual.
Maybe I shouldn't categorize this under "Freethought" but "Determined Thought." God, I have a dry sense of humor.
Labels: Freethought
posted by W.P. Martin at
5:12 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home