Why I Don't Believe in Free Will

2002-06-19 - 5:55 a.m.

I have a theory that most people don't seem to like. It's The Magus' Theory on the Absence of Free Will.

It's basically mental gymnastics, because even if it's true it doesn't really affect what people will do, simply because a part of it is the -illusion- of free will is so strong. Or you could just debate terms and what not.

It's probably already been written, and I can't see how it couldn't have been discovered before, because it's quite simple, but I'm quite proud that I invented it by myself, without any one explicitly providing it to me. As far as I'm concerned, it's an Original Thought to Me (tm).

Basically it rests on a series of assumptions. The first of which is that all decisions we make is determined by two influences. The first is circumstance, the second is our personality.

Since circumstance is something outside of our control, it doesn't bear on a discussion of free will (it could be argued that we choose the circumstances in which we end up, but then you get back to the decision bit: the decision that led you to circumstance "A" came about because of circumstance "B" and your personality...and on and on until the very first decision you've ever made...).

I assume there is no existence of a soul...a harsh assumption, and I probably don't entirely believe that, otherwise I would be dead inside, but necessary for my free will argument.

So, barring a soul, personality is made up of two influences: genetics, over which we have no control, and environment (or nature and nurture if you prefer...doesn't matter which has precedence...).

Environment, when we are born or conceived, is outside of our control, and since all of our decisions come from this moment and the environments that ensue as a consequence of our and other peoples' decisions, we don't have any control over the decisions we make.

Okay, that was really long and roundabout. No wonder no one understands me and looks at me funny.

Basically the consequence is that given an identical set of circumstances a person will make the same decision, always.

This is impossible to test, because no circumstance can ever be completely replicated: there will be changes in the physiology and psychology of a person (memory, etc), there will be changes in the atoms in the room, the ambient radiation...there are infinite factors that lead to a set of circumstances that create a decision. Impossible to control.

Though, the ramifications could be staggering. Basically if you can control even a majority of the factors in a person's life, you would be able to predict and control almost all that person does.

Even if you don't control, but just -know- most of this person's history and genetics you suddenly have immense power over them.

Thinking about this, I realise it's pretty common sense, actually. I guess the really neat bit is the fact that everything I do is based on my history. None of us are "masters" of our destinies, we're just trapped...there is a direct line of our lives that, theoretically, can be followed and predicted, given enough information.

I wish I'd done a better job of explaining that. But I don't like deleting things.

Cheers,

The Magus

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