No-Free-Will, Determinism

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I saw this elsewhere, and thought some here might find it interesting.
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No-Free-Will, Determinism

Yet another entry in our, "what the heck is it?" series.

Determinism



Excerpt:

The viability of a deterministic worldmodel is completely independent of the number of decisions that are made by a person. Whether you make ten decisions or a quadrillion, the doctrine of determinism -- or better, timeless frozen-future fatedness -- says that any and all decisions are already pre-set and frozen into the spacetime block. The future and the rest of time contain many decisions, but the point is, the decisions do not change. They are fixed and frozen with respect to the time axis.

Someone argued with me, saying that the November 2000 election disproved determinism because the outcome kept changing. The whole point of determinism is that change and decisions exist, and in great quantity, but are illusory in that there is no metachange. The future does not change. Decisions do not change the future -- they manifest and bring about the future, or are part of the path that leads into the future.

Decisions lie along the path; the path along time is composed of decisions. The decisions are frozen into a deterministic block universe, according to the doctrine of determinism or Necessity. Quantity of decisions has nothing to do with their metaphysical quality of frozenness in spacetime. Quality is completely independent of quantity.

When you have a million times as many cars, they do not become boats. When you have a million times as many decisions and changes of plan, they do not become free; the future remains fixed and metaphysical freedom remains illusory. Ten million ghosts do not constitute a living person. Upping the quantity of decisions is a futile and desperate way of attempting to produce the ever-elusive quality of metaphysical freedom, as though by running faster you could outrun determinism.

The Fates in Greek & Roman Mythology are the three goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, who control human destiny and who in ancient times were considered to command the gods: "Beyond and above the Olympian gods lay the silent, brooding, everlasting fate of which victim and tyrant were alike the instruments." -- Froude

Now, if you are an open-minded person, contemplating this philosophy might cook your noodles a bit – maybe a lot. Or, maybe not! The application of serious thought to the argument can seem ludicrous, cathartic, frustrating, upsetting, or even dangerous, depending on how far you can go with it and the logic you are wont to apply. For some, the idea may have the the dramatic effect of tossing a large boulder into their calm pool of self-reflection. Maybe it depends on who or what is tossing the boulder, and why, at this particular moment? My own perspective is that the idea certainly implies much more than mere logical gymnastics and the complex word play involved. Though, it is worthy of contradistinctions and argument in the sense of dualistic thesis vs. antithesis. The analysis is also worthy of precision in terminology and epistemology.

The outcome, (can there be more than one?) could also be surprising, scintillating, uplifiting, expansive, transformative, etc.

I certainly don't intend this reference to be a support for modern, dogmatic religious beliefs in that they represent a purely exoteric vulgarization, or admixture, of the more essential core concept intended. I would hope that the implications will be well thought out by readers who are most prone to inquire. I am also going to suggest that there is a potentially deep and liberating result in the clear understanding of determinism when seen in the proper light, lest the reader misconstrue the concept of fatalism as purely constrictive, negative, or inherently worthless. The psychological results can bear that out as a slow, methodical process, or instantaneously, like the lightening of Satori.

Read more!
http://sensiblyeclectic.com/b2evolution/blogs/index.php/2004/12/13/p1504#more1504