The man on the screen
With his beard
And his credentials
Said that there is no such thing as free will
Everything is just chemical reactions in the brain
Every present moment is just the accumulation of the past
That our biology
And genealogy
Contribute to the majority of our behavior
That our hormones impact how we will engage with each other
With a straight face
He talked about being ‘hangry’
And how people act and judge and decide differently
When they are hungry
He said we are only products of our environment
And we can’t control our environments
And that profound individual change happens spontaneously
Profound change can’t be anticipated
Apparently he wrote a book about all of this
And people felt like there was still wiggle room for some free will in his argument
So
He wrote another book about it
Stanford
That’s where he taught
And he needed to elaborate
There is no wiggle room
He thinks it is impossible for free will to have ever emerged
I used to be scared of this
But there is something so freeing
About the idea
Of being a leaf in the wind
Of being a stick floating down a river
The world is beautiful to look at
When you can just float
When you know that every moment fades away
And every second is uniquely configured
Is it random?
Or is it beautiful?
Or is it beautiful because it is random?
Is it predetermined?
Or is it a choice?
. . .
He made some good points
The man with the beard
And the credentials
It was silly
But fun
It is always good to listen to opposite opinions
From experts
And now
It is time for sleep
Good night
Sweet dreams
Remember to listen to your dreams
And to trust the deep
CH 5/27/24
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