That's right, I'm making another of my pretentious philosophy blogs. I have much more productive stuff I could and should really be doing, but I'm appalling at self-organisation, so let's rip apart another philosophical view, shall we?

Determinism. It's an odd theory which, if it were to be true, is also a very depressing one.

We all know that something does not come from nothing. Likewise, no event can happen for no reason. There are set laws of physics which cannot be broken, or at least we think they cannot be broken. Frankly, there's a hell of a lot we still don't understand, which is essentially the only barrier stopping determinism from being the definite truth.

Determinism is the belief that, since no action can come from nothing, each event or occurrence in the universe must have had a cause. Seems simple enough, and pretty likely, except it then stipulates that, since all causes can be traced back to prior causes, and the initial cause was the beginning of the universe, all our lives must have been 'set in stone', so to speak, since literally the dawn of time.

Take the big bang. Regardless of your beliefs as to how it came about, there was some kind of origin of the universe. The big bang is a likely one. If you're still unhappy with this, then it could apply just as well to the first few moments of whatever creation theory you believe in.

Now, after the big bang, everything's all weird and jumbled and god only knows what the hell is going on. So I'll just skip to maybe a minute afterwards. You've got all this superheated matter rushing to the farthest ends of the universe. Let's zoom in a bit closer.

Say there's a little hydrogen atom, zooming along on whatever course it's taken. Many things could happen to it right now. It could bump into another atom. It could be attracted into a nebula and ultimately form a star. It could bump into an asteroid or whatever else in the course of its existence. There's a lot of potential right there.

BUT

Is there really that much potential? That little atom is zipping along, as are the billions of billions of others which exist nearby it, and they are all going on a particular course. Right now, at this hypothetical moment in time, if you could take a snapshot of every atom in the universe, and all their properties, such as heat, velocity, mass, etc, then by modelling the rest of the universe's existence, and assuming you knew every single law of physics perfectly, you could hypothetically track the course of each of those atoms and their interactions with other ones using your knowledge, and ultimately predict the entire future of the universe.

Naturally, humankind has nowhere near the knowledge or resources capable of creating such a model. But the point is, that each one of those atoms would have carried along on its path and interacted in the same way no matter how many times you decided to remake your model, assuming it was accurate in the first place.

Now, say you have a 3DS in front of you, and there is a tiny little carbon atom in one of the many polymers that make up your 3DS. A deterministic view of the universe would stipulate that that particular atom was 'destined' to end up inside that 3DS that you're holding since the beginning of the universe. And if the universe were to be spontaneously destroyed and re-made, then assuming determinism is true on all levels, and that its initial moment of creation was exactly the same as this one's, that little atom would ALWAYS end up inside a 3DS held by a person exactly like you.

That little carbon atom could well have been destined to belong to you since the beginning of the universe. How's that for an ego boost?

And this is where the only flaw in determinism comes in. To our knowledge, practically all of physics acts according to rules of cause and effect. Except radioactive decay. But that's so tiny it barely makes a difference, unless you want to take the butterfly effect to its absolute logical extreme.

Now, determinism may seem pretty cool, but not disturbing, as I said it would be earlier. Well, this is where the slightly unpleasant part comes in.

See, determinism, if true, would not just count for your carbon atom in that 3DS of yours. Oh no. It would count for every atom that made up your body. Including the ones in your brain.

Now we all know that the brain, out of all our organs, is the most important by far. It houses our memories, gives us emotions and intuition, coordinates how our entire body works and, last but probably most relevant, it is where we do our thinking and make decisions.

Now, the brain is essentially a computer. It's a really advanced, really complicated computer which works as much with chemicals as electricity, but it's a computer nonetheless. We don't understand it in its entirety, but this much is definitely true. It works on the same principles as a computer. It receives input, in this case through our senses, processes it, and then outputs it, as a decision, action or response.

A computer does not do things at random. If your computer executes a program, it is because it has been told to execute said program, it won't just do it for no reason. Even if you were not aware you had told it to do so, or someone else had fiddled with the settings, or eve if it was a virus, the point is a computer does not do something spontaneously.

The same goes for our brains. Tiny little particles inside your brain are constantly reacting to other stimuli, but they never randomly jump out and do something totally unexpected unless there was a cause. In this sense, the brain, to the best of our knowledge, follows deterministic principles, just as we think everything in the universe does.

So, according to deterministic beliefs, my brain always reacts to certain stimuli and variables. There are a stupidly large number of them. Most of them are really really tiny, hard to detect, or difficult to remember, but they are there.

Therefore, one would reason that if I were presented with a certain scenario, and I was able to take a snapshot of the scene just as I did at the big-bang, I would react the same way no matter how many times I replayed it.

For example, imagine I'm sitting in front of a table with a huge, delicious cheesecake on it. Now, I need to decide whether or not I'm going to eat it, so variables need to be considered.
I know for a fact that I like eating cheesecake.
This is probably the biggest and most significant variable. If I was really weird, and totally twisted in the head, and generally all-round bonkers, I might dislike eating cheesecake for some unthinkable reason. In that case, my mind would probably be made up instantly.

So, as I drool over the cheesecake, we take a snapshot of every single variable and circumstance which is present, the first and foremost being that I enjoy eating cheesecake.

If you were given only the information that I am presented with a cheesecake, and that I like cheesecake, it is natural to conclude that I would probably eat it.

However, there are far more variables than that.

Say I have just eaten, and I'm so stuffed that I know that eating the cheesecake would be bad for me. Then you would conclude that I would not eat the cheesecake, since I would not do something that is bad for me.

BUT you have failed to take into consideration a second variable, which is that I have exceedingly poor self-control, and my desire to eat the cheesecake would override the knowledge that it is bad for me.

And so we have a fairly accurate model of the decision making process, although simplified massively, in reality there would be many many more variables to consider. But this demonstrates the principle rather nicely.

Now we know that, if the only variables that exist are that I am presented with a cheesecake, that I like eating cheesecake, that I'm aware that they are bad for me if I've just eaten a lot and that I have poor self control, I will opt to eat the cheesecake anyway. I know I'll probably regret it later, but I would do so.

It's like an equation.

We know that the following equation will always be true, assuming the variables are always the same:

12+34+56=102

But say we add a fourth variable, then the outcome changes:

12+34+56+78=180

This is how a computer works, and it is also how our brains work. Since there are absolutely no random events happening without cause within our brains, then given exactly the same scenario, down to the letter, the outcome will always be the same. Even if some of the variables you have to consider are other aspects of brain activity itself.

So we can safely say that, assuming literally the only variables involved are the ones mentioned previously (which is an incredibly unrealistic assumption, but works for the case of this example), I will always eat the cheesecake.

Now, variables that come into play during this kind of thing aren't always just personality things. Say there is a man in the room with a gun who is telling me that if I eat the cheesecake, he will shoot me, I'm almost certainly not going to eat it.

So the environment affects our decisions as well.

This leads to the following observation, assuming determinism is true.

We accept, as hard determinism claims, that every single action happens through cause and effect, and that every single atom is set out on a concrete path for the rest of its existence.
Therefore Earth was always going to exist.
And by extension, you were always going to exist.
And by extension, the environment around you was always going to exist exactly as it has done for every moment of your life.
And by extension, the various aspects of your personality and memories were always going to exist.
And we know that all decisions are based upon variables of your personality, memories and environment.
And we know that all these things were set out from the moment the universe started.

Then surely that means...
That all your decisions were set out from the moment the universe started as well?

Taking determinism to its logical extreme, known as 'hard determinism,' takes away all concepts of metaphysical freedom, and forces the question of whether or not we truly have free will.

If everything is indeed set out as determinism claims, then every single decision, action and experience you've ever had were predetermined at the moment the universe was created. This is true even if you do not believe in the 'big-bang theory.'

According to hard determinism, you have as much free will as a wind-up car. Every time you think you're making a decision at random, it was actually guaranteed to have occurred that way for eternity.

And so we are forced to conclude that, in the end, if I'm sat in a room with a cheesecake, I am going to eat it whether I want to or not...



And I am going to enjoy it.