Another Riff on Free Will

“It is clear,” the Logician argued confidently, “that regardless of the existence of a supreme creator free will, as we understand it at least, is an illusion.”

“Positing a God figure, we must assume an infinitely powerful being controls, either by actions or inaction, everything. With the existence of such a being, the idea that we could “choose” to do or not do a thing is ridiculous on it’s face.”

“But without this being, and the eternal selfness some call “Soul” supposedly granted us by it, all we are is meat and chemicals, automata existing solely to propagate genes. We may well respond to stimuli in a way such that the illusion of sentience is created, but it is precisely that. An illusion.”

“We are nothing more than biology. And biology is chemistry, chemistry is physics, and physics an unbroken chain of causes and effects stretching all the way back to the birth of the universe itself.”

“In this way, everything we do was predestined billions of years before our birth, and quite beyond any type of control.”

“So you see, Your Honour, although my wife is dead, and my hand plunged the knife into her, I could not possibly have killed her. Either God did or, more likely to my mind, a firing of neurons triggered by a chain of events more ancient than is fathomable. Thus; it is your duty as an officer of this court to find me innocent of all charges.”

The judge, from his bench, pondered this a while, and when he was done delivered this verdict.

“Your reasoning, Professor, seems perfectly sound, and I shall find you not-guilty. And moreover shall I instruct the executioner that, when he hangs an innocent man in the morning, he should do so without remorse. He is, after all, no more in charge of his actions than you are. Is this not true?”

The Nature of Will

“Is free will free?”

“Yes, of course it is. That’s why they call it that.”

“Like, completely free?”

“Yes, completely free.”

“How free?”

“Free! It’s free! It’s free will, it’s by definition free. It is the most free human will can be, I don’t understand what you’re asking. My will is free, all will is free. It’s free will!”

“Good. Then I’ll have yours, if you please.

And so she took my will, offering nothing in return.

She then commanded me to write a story about it, which you’re now reading. I’ll ask her if I hope you enjoyed it…

The Button (for Norm)

Each time I click, my free will vanishes.

I know it, but I can’t stop. There isn’t enough of myself left to stop. My mind, body and soul are promised to a man called Norm.

I hear and obey, I can’t do otherwise. And I know I’m not alone.

There’s an army of us now, clicking the button. None of us knows why he took our will, none know what he’ll do with us. But our loyalty’s unmistakable.

In the back of my mind, what’s left of me screams, unheeded.

Why, oh why, did I click the button labelled “submit”?

Time

Assuming time’s a closed loop, there’s nothing to worry about.

Admittedly, the idea of cyclical time casts disturbing implications on our notions of personal autonomy. After all, if all we do is repeat pre-established patterns, in what sense do any of us have any control at all over our surroundings?

However, we should also consider this supremely liberating. Because if we’re taking predetermined roles in established historical patterns, it’s impossible to make a mistake. Whatever you do at any given moment is by definition right. So we can relax.

If, however, time ISN’T a closed loop, we’re on our own.

Free Will

What is the nature of consciousness, he wondered.

Did he really have any such thing as “free will”, or were his actions predetermined by forces beyond his control? Did he simply delude himself that he was master of his own fate?

As he wondered this, he pushed the giant wheel. He pushed it 16 hours a day every day. He’d done this since he reached the age of labour, he‘d known no other way. He had no idea what the wheel did, or why he turned it. He simply pushed.

It gave him plenty of time to ponder such matters.