I always loved browsing such posts on reddit, so thought I should make one on lemmy too
Edit: Usually these kind of posts only used to have excerpts from books or ancient proverbs, but now I am seeing a lot more quotes from shows/movies/games are also resonating with people. It’s pretty cool to see.
“You’re not here to make a choice, you’ve already made it. You’re here to try and understand why you made it.”
-The Oracle.
To this day it’s the way I don’t worry about determinism and free will. It doesn’t matter if I truly was the one who made a choice or not—if it was predestined—I’m supposed to learn about why I made that choice.
I think that only holds true if we stop making choices.
As far as free will is concerned, the multiverse theory has some great implications for that. Still no answers, but rationales that there are other “yous” out there living ever single possibility.
The way I think about this is somewhat novel I think.
Suppose we have two universes, everything the same, except one has free will and one doesn’t. Would an observer be able to tell them apart? I don’t think so. Maybe I just lack imagination, but I don’t see how free will would actually make a difference.
Your decisions determine what kind of person you are and what kind of person you are determines what decisions you make. They are self reinforcing and tied up together in a big path dependant knot.
Wanting to be a better person also only works if you let it change your decisions, bringing you one step closer to being a better person.
The thoughtful replies to my posts alone make me so happy to be on Lemmy. I hope this place stays the way it is.