What if everything you do won’t ever matter because all the outcomes were predetermined? What if everything everybody ever does won’t matter because all those outcomes were predetermined? What if everything that happens in the universe were predetermined? And not just our petty little lives. And what if those what if scenarios were real instead of hypothetical? Because it is scientifically plausible. What are you going to do to cope with it? Not believe it?

There’s a philosophy out there called Predeterminism that basically states that everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen, had been predetermined. That is, there’s no such thing as free will, or changing of potential futures we can foresee should certain interventions not occur. So long as this was philosophy, though, it will just be an interesting thought experiment, if that. It could be even beneficial for those who feel like nothing they do would ever change anything. But what if it were scientifically plausible, like it actually is?

Free will is a human arrogance. To think that we could control energy within ourselves like one of those Marvel mutants that can control energy. But that’s what thoughts are, energy flow in the brain. Can we really control that? Or is it a matter of “constrained” or “relative” randomness, the way a randomly generated number digit by digit from the left is constrained to some value range with each progressive digit? So that if the number 3.7 had been generated, the next digit, whatever it may be, can’t turn it to 4.1 something? So for some things, there may be a six digit number for the ultimate outcome (for six steps to the outcome), while for other things, there may be two or ten digits for that many steps, respectively, to their respective ultimate outcomes. All predetermined.

Even with quantum mechanical randomness, there’s the question if we can really control that, or if something can control it. For example, is a roll of a die really random if one could model how it were tossed, what it’s made of and the surfaces it hits, how it hits based on throwing parameters from spin to height and even pressure and temperature of air it falls through? Then we model how the dice is set again and run it again to predict that outcome that’s not so random, actually? Who’s to say quantum mechanical randomness isn’t like the digit generation or die roll modeling that there were some actual influence or limitations of outcomes at each step (there are but controllable limitations within those limitations), with further limitations each step along the way until all finalities are predetermined?

Make what you want of that scientific plausibility for predeterminism, but it’s plausible enough to warrant dealing with Predeterminism as something more serious than just a philosophical thought experiment. How would you deal with that reality in living your life?

The easiest way, and the first way, I dealt with Predeterminism was simply not to believe it. Even if it were true, one could always live under the illusion to self it weren’t. It’s not like anybody lives under no illusion of anything in life! What’s one more?

But what if you did believe in Predeterminism, or couldn’t shake it from your mind, what then?

Well, one way would be to use it to take the pressure off everything you do where there might be pressure. It’s all predetermined anyway so why don’t I just do whatever, which was also predetermined for me as well? I just do it all without pressure.

But simpler than all that even, if everything were predetermined, then do what I’ve always done in my life before being aware of predeterminism. Live through the current times always with an eye on the future. It’s like reading a book and always wanting to know what’s in future pages, and/or how whatever I’m reading, or have read but remained unresolved, will turn out. The rest is then just reading through that book, where the words are predetermined for you, as are the outcomes. Now, it’d be fair to say it was predetermined I have that ability to accept predeterminism as being like a book where, if I didn’t think I had control for how the story went, then I could find excitement to constantly wanting to see what lies ahead, rather than be dejected about how I can’t change it anyway. However, if you couldn’t before, maybe you were predetermined to read this and predetermined to decide to see if you can by trying!

Was that crazy enough? And how’s about the transition from literal shit written about in the previous post to mind-boggling philosophy for this post? What has been predetermined for me to write next? 🙂

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