Dispatches from the Empire


#

Currently reading: Existential Physics by Sabine Hossenfelder đź“š

Free will or not, we are here, and therefore we matter. But whether ours will be a happy story or a sad story, whether our civilization will flourish or wither, whether we will be remembered or forgotten—we don’t yet know. Instead of thinking of ourselves as selecting possible futures, I suggest we remain curious about what’s to come and strive to learn more about ourselves and the universe we inhabit.

I have found that abandoning the idea of free will has changed the way I think about my own thinking. I have begun paying more attention to what we know about the shortcomings of human cognition, logical fallacies, and biases. Realizing that in the end I am just working away on the input I collect, I have become more selective and careful with what I read and listen to.

#

Determinism vs. free will: A scientific showdown

However, the (often quite unpopular) truths revealed by the scientific method—heliocentrism, evolution, quantum mechanics—have often upended “the clear existence of” what came before. Determinism may be no different.

My favorite debate.