Free Will

At a stress reduction clinic in a local teaching hospital which I attended after an episode with my heart about 20 years ago, I was exposed to an antidote for guilt which goes something like this: If I could have done it differently I would have, the proof that I couldn’t is that I didn’t. This statement suggests that everything is exactly as it should be, including our decisions, and we have no free will. Somewhere in my travels I was also exposed to another notion that: Everything that was in place prior to this very moment was exactly as it should be. However, we have a say in what happens in the next moment. I would like to rephrase the later statement. Once an action is taken, the results of that action are exactly as they should be given the action. And all of the results of actions throughout the Universe are exactly as they should be given all the actions throughout the universe. However, going forward we can make choices and participate in determining what the Universe will look like tomorrow. I want to explore the second statement. The first part of the statement is obvious. If I hit a piece of granite with a hammer in a specific spot with a given force, it will shatter. The way is splinters is precisely the correct way (by correct I don’t mean intended but as it should, given the circumstances). If I struck the granite with the same hammer in the same place with the same force using the same trajectory and it being in the same space at the same temperature, it would fracture the same way. Actions leading up to the fracture of the granite determine the mode of splintering and the splintering is precisely as it should be given the actions. Today there is a saying that reinforces this. Lunacy (or something like that) is defined as doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results. However I am not sure I agree with the second part of the statement, going forward we can make a choice and participate in determining what the Universe will look like going forward. The granite has certain inherent physical properties which makes it granite, that determine its basic characteristics, like its chemical composition, strength, etc. These will be contributing factors to in how it will splinter. Other elements in how it shatters are, within the family of granite, its unique characteristics that make it this specific rock. These will determine things like the nature and locations of impurities imbedded in it along with the various local bond strengths. Beside this it also has a history that will contribute to the mode of shatter. How long ago did it break off from the mountain? What temperature cycles did it see over the period of its existence? How much water washed over its surface? How did it tumble and fall as the earth moved? Then of course there are the external conditions like the nature and weight of the hammer, the velocity and direction of the hammer head, the orientation of the granite and the precise location of the impact. All of these, its nature as a rock, its unique structure, its history and the external conditions at the time of impact, will contribute to determining precisely how the rock will shatter. This premise should be relatively easy to accept. Now let’s replace the piece of granite with a person and the nature of the splinter with the decision at a crossroads to commit a crime or not. As in the case of the granite, the person has an inherent nature possessed by all human beings. She is conceived through the merger of a sperm and egg, struggles to survive, seeks pleasure, grows, decays and dies. Then there are factors driving her inherent individual characteristics, traits specific to her that she was born with. Broadly speaking, these are her DNA determined by her ancestry, the culture and life style of her ancestors, and the mother’s environment during pregnancy. What did the mother eat and drink during the pregnancy? Was she a drug addict? How much stress was she under? What kind of prenatal care in general did she receive? These factors will determine the color of the skin, hair and eyes, her height, much of her physiological and psychological makeup (nature), her propensity for diseases, and her general health upon entering this world. As with the rock, she will also be influenced by her history. Was the family under stress during the first few years of her life? Did she grow up in a loving environment? Was there someone available to comfort her? Was there a good role model available? Was the family intellectually curious? Did she live in a violent neighborhood? Did she receive adequate health care? Was she educated? What was the religiosity of the parents if any? What roads did she travel during her life? What people crossed her paths? What joys and sorrows did she face? This history also contributes to her physical and psychological makeup (nurture) and will come into play when she is making the decision. What are the externalities at the moment the decision is made? Is it cold out? If poor, are poor people stigmatized, in her environment is such a crime acceptable behavior? So when she comes to a crossroad and needs to decide to commit the crime or not, like the way the rock splinters, that decision has already been predetermined. Is she a good or bad person? That may not be the right question since it suggests she had a say. The more appropriate thing is to recognize that circumstances beyond her control have led her to this point and the question should be what kind of a member of society and community is she. Should she be forgiven? Yes. If the crime is a serious one, should she go to jail? Yes. Though what she does is predetermined, society’s laws should apply, if not to rehabilitate her then to discourage her and others from committing that crime again. (The philosophy and effectiveness of incarceration is whole separate discussion.) This gets us back to the antidote to guilt. If I could have done it differently I would have, the proof that I couldn’t is that I didn’t. The older I get and the more I think about it, the more I am inclined to think that statement is true and there is no real free will for us as individuals. Since there is no free will for individuals, does society, being the sum of its individuals, travel along a predetermined path also? Are we just actors on a stage following a script? If so, the bigger question then is where, when and how was the script written?