From 13c3be610f9b9d8126eb236b7621e9af4219f904 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Eric Chen Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2024 10:44:29 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Fix grammar --- content/shorts/2023-02-03-free-will.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/content/shorts/2023-02-03-free-will.md b/content/shorts/2023-02-03-free-will.md index 58125df..c2ca6d9 100644 --- a/content/shorts/2023-02-03-free-will.md +++ b/content/shorts/2023-02-03-free-will.md @@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ In an interview between podcaster Lex Fridman and physicist Brian Greene on free In a humorous YouTube video titled "Why is the Milk Gone?" by exurb1a, he contemplates the idea of free will by analyzing the chain of events that led to you running out of milk at lower and lower resolutions. Let me give you an example. After a long day of work, you come home and trip on a broomstick that had fallen to the ground. Why did you trip? It's because the broomstick is on the ground. So the broomstick made you fall. But why is the broomstick on the ground? It's because your damn cat knocked it over. So your cat is the reason you fell. But what made your cat knock it over? It's because you adopted your cat from that shelter. So...you adopting a cat is the reason you fell. You can slowly lower the resolution until you blame the universe for existing as the reason that you fell. Everything since the inception of the universe 14 billion years ago has followed a trajectory determined by the laws the universe created. Exurb1a ponders that if we created a new universe with the exact same blueprint, would everything turn out the same? Would the universe's creation lead to the creation of the solar system, you being born, you adopting your cat, your cat knocking over a broomstick, and you tripping over the fallen broomstick? -The laws of the universe are not completely black and white. Quantum Mechanics tells us that many particles exist in non determinant states. Electrons exist in a probability distribution. Quantum tunneling isn't an exact process. Maybe, restarting the universe would not lead to you tripping over a broom. Only one difference is needed to cause a butterfly-effect cascade of events, leading to a world where were never even born. But, would you really be comfortable with this explanation, where your free will is simply the result of the probablistic nature of your particles? The answer isn't obvious. +The laws of the universe are not completely black and white. Quantum Mechanics tells us that many particles exist in non determinant states. Electrons exist in a probability distribution. Quantum tunneling isn't an exact process. Maybe, restarting the universe would not lead to you tripping over a broom. Only one difference is needed to cause a butterfly-effect cascade of events, leading to a world where were never even born. But, would you really be comfortable with this explanation, that your free will is simply the result of the probablistic nature of your particles? The answer isn't obvious. Whether free will exists or not, I do not see what is wrong with *believing* that it exists. If we behave as if it does exist, then what ultimate difference will it make? Believing everything that happens is up to fate allows people to justify a lack of responsibility. *I failed my test because I was always going to. I am unsuccessful because of fate. I'm not going to try because there is no point.* Believing in free will makes you accountable for your actions. You cannot blame the universe for your failings. You can chalk up your successes to your own decisions. It allows you to seek out your desires and craft your own path without thinking the universe is trying to stop you. We've created philosophical guidelines to help us navigate and interpret the world and they do not necessarily have to be "true". And maybe, instead of seeing free will as a concept of fact or fiction, you can use it as your doctrine to guide your own journey in life.