Topics Freedom

Question I am a very skilled amateur magician. As such I believe I hold a slightly better understanding about perception, deception, belief, conviction, and the human thought process than the average man on the street. One aspect about humanity that continually amazes me is the sheer predictability of actions and the dearth of variation when it comes to responding to a given situation. Case in point: In the middle of presenting a card trick where a chosen playing card continually goes to MY pocket under increasingly strenuous conditions I make the off-handed comment "One time I did this trick and I applied a little too much pressure and the card invisibly shot out and ended up in some other guy's pocket...". 9 times out of 10 after I am done with the initial sequences the spectator I am engaging will challenge me to make the card go to HIS pocket. Needless to say I have already secreted the card to his pocket using technical machinations much, much earlier. To the spectator the challenge was a random one; to me it was a predictable action, one that could be prepared for and exploited. Does this underlying predictability apply to all our actions and endeavors? So how important is the perception of "randomness" and "uniqueness" and "choice" to our day to day lives? What about the relationship between free will and instinct? It seems to me that culture and identity are just illusions masking the true monotony of existing...

Accepted:
July 5, 2008

Comments

The fact that our actions are predictable as such or by itself hasno tendency to imply that they are unfree or that they are determinedor not freely chosen. I can predict that I will continue to work on myhouse yet again today, but that is because I very much enjoy it, andthe action's predictibility does not somehow frustrate its freeness.Many people are predictably kind, say, but that does not mean thattheir kind actions are not less free and praiseworthy. There may ofcourse be others who are naturally kind, but even they, it seems to me,can well be thought of as free and as deserving praise for their moralquality. It is not the absolute predictability of the motions of theplanets which makes us suspect that they are not free agents, but thefact that we know that they are great balls of rock or magma orsomething. (The philosophical discussion of "compatibilism" over the last hundred years is very helpful here.)

Ithink of culture as a very natural but very human attemptto find or create something good and interesting where it was notbefore. Architecture is an example of a bit of practical culture whichis not just about concealing the long dull littleness of life. It is rather aboutmaking something attractive and humanly satisfying. (I am not sure howidentity comes in here.) But your lastremark does seem to be a bit of what I believe magicians callmis-direction. Is that the right word? Again, predictabiliy is not thesame as dullness. A child's life can be utterly predictable and yetvery exciting. Adults tend to lose their edge. Good domesticarchitecture helps us to remember and restore ourselves. Beaver cultureis not an attempt to escape dullness, but a creation of a pleasantenvironment for the beavers which also helps them find food. Forexample, the bark on the trees in the beaver pond becomes soft andedible, and there are other most things to eat in the pond.