While I enjoy writing my random nonsense and psychotic prose, I do, on occasion, feel the need to be a bit more coherent.
Watching several TED talks about creativity and genius have gotten me thinking about things. Specifically, predestination and choice.
Some say that we are destined to be something or somewhere, that whatever happens happens that way because that's how it's supposed to happen.
Others believe that nothing is set in stone. The way of the world is determined by what we do. No fate but what we make for ourselves.
What I've been thinking over is this: Theoretically, if you knew the position of every proton, neutron, and electron in the universe and the precise measurement of all the forces acting on them, you could predict where they would go and how they would react. And from this, extrapolate their positions and consequences into eternity.
To give you an idea of the applications of this, say you are studying a person. You need to know what he will do next. With the knowledge mentioned before, it would be a simple thing to predict how the electrons would flow through his brain and how the chemicals in his body would act, giving you the exact course of action he would take.
Here is where it gets tricky. Your knowledge of what he would do will change what you will do which trickles back down and changes what he does, starting the process over again and you're back to not knowing what he would do. Except that nothing has changed. All the knowledge of electrons and protons and neutrons still applies. You can still track it. It's still predetermined, but the future is still unknowable.
The fact that everything is changing as you learn it means that even if you know exactly what happened in the previous instant and all the things and paths and consequences that lead up to it, you cannot know what will happen next because you're knowledge of what happens next will change what happens next.
So is the future predetermined?
Where does choice fall into all this? Let's go back to the example. You've determined how the man you're studying will act, and you have formed a reaction. How was this reaction formed? You made a choice, yes? But if all the actions in the universe are predetermined by the movements of the atoms at the beginning of the universe then all you have accomplished is the illusion of choice. The action you've formed is merely the result of all the actions you've taken before, which were all determined in the same manner.
To make a choice, a real choice, one not predetermined, would mean a phenomena had taken place unheard of in modern science: something created from nothing. An unknown force unaffected by physics, barging into our universe and changing something according to no scientific law, throwing the whole mess into unpredictable chaos.
Is there such a thing as choice?
I believe there is. Let me try and explain why. It may make a bit more sense if you know that I'm a Christian.
It is commonly accepted that there are three parts to a human being: body, mind, and soul. The body being the physical component, the mind being the control mechanism, and the soul being sort of undefined. It's just there. It's important ... somehow.
I believe the soul is our gift from God, it's what sets us apart from plants and animals. It's what makes us human in the first place.
I think the soul is where choices are made. It is that force acting outside the realm of science to influence our universe and create random occurrences for better or worse.
If the body and mind are both physical components of the human being then they are both predictable entities of our universe. I believe the soul resides outside of this predictable physical space, but acts upon it through it's connection to the body and mind. The soul is our conciousness.
Based on what I've said above:
Premise A: Everything in the physical universe can be predicted based on the motion of electrons, protons, and neutrons.
Premise B: The human body and mind reside in the physical universe.
Conclusion: The actions and reactions of the human body and mind can be predicted.
That should make sense if you read the first half of this.
Now we make a few assumptions:
Premise A: Human beings have a soul.
Premise B: The soul does not reside in the physical universe.
Conclusion: Part of the human being is not predictable based on the motion of electrons, protons, and neutrons.
Nothing to radical there. If something is not part of something else it is not subject to that something else. Just as people in the United States are not subject to the laws of England. If this soul were to effect anything (which I believe it does (see the next part)) then it means that human beings as a whole are fundamentally unpredictable.
Finally:
Premise A: God exists.
Premise B: Choices are made with the soul
Premise C: God gave humans a soul.
Conclusion: Choice exists.
I said before I was a Christian, so this part should also make sense.
While this does not conclusively prove my point, it does lend credibilty to the idea. And the idea is this: For choice to exist, God has to exist. If God does not exist, then we have no choice and none of it matters anyway.
I think, from reading this, it is obvious that I believe human beings are capable of choice.
"The past is definite, the present uncertain, and the future unknowable."
