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RE: Do, or Not to Do

in Reflections14 days ago

Are we chasing things though? Or are we just running away from the cascading events of the past, down the only path that remains, a result of our prior choices?

Which was the first choice that set you upon the path to having these thoughts and writing these words. So many people are "victims" of their circumstance, through which, as a result of their prior choices, (perhaps ones they couldn't even control) - find themselves with less and less agency as time drags on.

The concept of even being able to choose is a gift, a gift given by every circumstance you've encountered.

Maybe, I too, am rambling in response to your rambling, but that's the most cathartic part of interacting with another sentient being.

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Or are we just running away from the cascading events of the past, down the only path that remains, a result of our prior choices?

Running away is a negative chase, just with even less control. Go where the hungry lion isn't.

The concept of even being able to choose is a gift, a gift given by every circumstance you've encountered.

I think that the less we choose, the less chance to choose we have, mostly by self-conditioning. However, while the past dictates the present, it needn't dictate the future. We can make different choices. Be different, by doing different.

Rambling might be the greatest form of self-expression. Or the lowest. I am not sure.

negative chase

rework

Are we just running toward a certain future, a result of the cascading events of the past. The path we follow, determined by the pavement before us, installed by past hands unseen?

This is actually helping me ideate more for that fictional story I want to write around the concept of free will, choice, and agency. Thanks.

However, while the past dictates the present, it needn't dictate the future. We can make different choices. Be different, by doing different.

Choice is terrifying, paralysing to some people. Different choice suggests that that there's an expected outcome, and that there can be an unexpected outcome, as someone manipulates their environment in a way that would not be typical. For instance: opening the milk at the supermarket and pouring it over the apples.

Different choice suggests that that there's an expected outcome, and that there can be an unexpected outcome,

It suggests, but it it doesn't have to be that way. A different choice might carry no expectation with it - though that would not be the normal human behaviour. Humans tend to automatically predict potential outcomes, but favour some over others, depending on those opinionated feelings.

Are we just running toward a certain future, a result of the cascading events of the past. The path we follow, determined by the pavement before us, installed by past hands unseen?

So, are we fated? I have thought a bit about this and technically, I think that we are fated, where everything happens in some kind of ricochet that is far too complicated for us to ever know or predict with accuracy. Yeah, there are some quantum mechanics things that are meant to be random, but are they truly random, or do we just not know their formula yet?

It is dangerous to say, until evidence suggests otherwise, but someone has done the mathematics on quantum chaos.

For a random quantum event to influence a single molecule, its twenty three orders of magnitude of random events that are required.

But hey, as you mention, we are not for sure certain if it is random. It just appears that way as we have further reductive analysis to complete as a species.

I also enjoy your use of the word ricochet in this conversation.

It is dangerous to say, until evidence suggests otherwise, but someone has done the mathematics on quantum chaos.

Yes. But even the smart mathmeticians are only giving the next step in the puzzle. There is always more to know. At some point, the smartest people didn't believe in germs.

We describe the life we know, but also assume much of the life we do not know.

I also enjoy your use of the word ricochet in this conversation.

Funny! When I wrote it I was thinking about the last time I have used it - and it has been a long time. One of the parts of living in a foreign (non-English speaking) country, is not using even simple vocabulary that often. I am losing richness, and I wasn't wealthy to begin with.

You're not losing richness. You are wealthy. You have a healthy mind and share your words and ideas freely. That's rich in my book.

I doubt the puzzle of the quantum realm will be solved in our life times, but until then, it provides much entertaining speculation.