Do you believe in fate?

edad
Sun, 14 Jan 2007 06:41:50 +0000

Do things happen which are beyond our control? Clearly that is the case. In fact we find ourselves to be very small specks in a huge or infinite universe. Most of the events which occur in the universe are outside of our control. When we look at our universe from a scientific perspective, we look for cause and effect, patterns, and laws which govern the universe. Our scientific approach allows us to learn more and more and has been very useful. When we look at ourselves as animals controlled by organic brains, we must consider that human behavior follows laws and our behavior comes from our genes and the effect of the environment. By logical extension we must consider that everything follows laws and hence is pre-determined. If we look at our own behavior, we can readily detect that we often behave in predictable fashion, depending on our personalities (genetics) and the events which befall us. We want to reject this conclusion. We have an overwhelming sense that we can make decisions - that we have free will. We know we have a sense of free will, but we are not sure what it is. Does it in fact imply some sort of randomness in the universe? If people have free wills, do animals? Watch a monkey. A monkey has a lot less intelligence than a human, but it does appear to investigate its environment and make simple decisions. And, why not? Our genetics and brains are in fact very similar. If a monkey has free will, does a dog or a cat have free will? What about a mouse or a worm or a bacteria?

Trying to defend a concept of free will gets us into all sorts of problems. Usually the simplest explanation is the best. We should reject the concept of free will, but we cannot.