Are we Free?

’’’ Is it just me or does everybody find the food they prepare for themselves so satisfying. From the get go, From the very process of foraging to finishing it up on the plate is so fulfilling. Its such a private and initmate feeling.

We wanna make our lives so fancy and glamorous that it bewilders the audience, we are always in this constant cycle on wanting to do great things to have an impact. I want to delve deep into why we do such a thing. ‘’’

We think ourselves as this independent free self who is about to conquer the world with a storm. We have these monumental plans etched on our minds that we think we can do it all by ourselves. I just feel that all these ideas are backed on a stronger myth of free will. Lets delve deep into this chasm of a fallacy!

I stand in discord with the fact there is free will, we modern day humans are so interdependent on each other that the very possibility of free will just cannot be possible. Modern day Human networks are super connected, a small conflict between two small countries can have severe consequences across the world. Call it globalization or anything, we need people to get the things we use daily. For an experiment, Just look around your room and you can count the sum total of number of man hours that went into producing the final goods that we use, be it the new shoes you ordered or the toothbrush you use every morning. Therefore, We need people for our sustenance.

These people who have been so ‘benevolent’ to provide you with those goodies should also be considered if we are taking about a person’s free will. Suppose my free will dictates me to order a pizza but if it so happens the case that the city is under a curfew for something, then you wont be able fulfill your will(eventhough it may sound pretty lame). There are a myriad many restrictions which are possible, let me explain a few others.

For example, If this contagion of free will affected somebody and he decides on killing his super annoying senior and proceeds forward with his plan, he will be squared up and chained to the cell. Why is he being jailed when he was simply acting on his will, its because of this external body called Police which safeguards the right to live for its citizens. Just a single act of absurdity caused our dear friend to be jailed forever. How is anyone free is my question?

Let’s just assume that we are free, then how much of this ‘free’ is permissible? Free will is rational locally. I mean to say that when the stakes are low and not many people will be affected by your action, free will may reign supreme.
You may have got it right, its to the most part determined by the people above yourself in the social structure. If we are talking about the free will of a Cobbler’s son, its mainly determined by the community of cobblers, i.e., if he crosses the community guidelines, he will be flooded with consequences. The idea of this free will is not really free, and you need to have a certain amount of power and status to exercise this will freely.

With the above arguments, we can safely trashcan the idea of ‘Free will all the way’. ‘’’ where am i going with this reasoning? ‘’’

I sincerly also believe that it also ain’t the case of ‘Determinsm all the way’. How can everything be predetermined and already somewhere recorded in the books? It just feels so surreal that everything is pre-destined and I am living in a simulation and the things that are happening to me are just circumstances which are being composed by a higher deity.

If it were the case, then i would be spellbounded by the complexity of the simulation and would start questioning my own thought, also on the true ownership of these thoughts. Do i really own them? If i were just a part of the play, Aren’t those written for me by dramatist, how can i even think of those thoughts and actions as mine?

’’’ touch upon determinsm and give some examples where it can break ‘’’ Our options(or choices) are always chained with the people around us and the circumstances we are currently in. As per my world view, Life is a harmonious mix of these two. I chose the word harmonious because its so beautiful and freakishly random. Nothing can be concluded about this free will and determinism and no matter which one reigns supreme, we all are just simple beings who are overtly egoistic.

’’’ To understand this better consider if i am good friends with a bunch of go-getters, I will also tend be risk taking and would love to venture out of my comfort zone. The circumstances aspect of the equation is quite easy to see, as wanting to fly first class when you are dead-bankrupt is just straight-up crazy. ‘’’

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• hopeless self promotion maybe end the article with a short remark on another debate which i would like to take up in the future, “nature vs nuture” ‘’’