The Amazing Illusion of Choice


		The Amazing Illusion of Choice (Top Posts - Philosophy (FREELOVER) - 032401) Did you "choose" to read this message -or- did you respond to stimuli based on all that makes you what you are, your genes, memes, and life experiences? }}} [aside - clarification - memes are replicating ideas, }}} a theory, first proposed by Richard Dawkins, that }}} ideas have survival value in and of themselves in }}} their ability to replicate themselves from brain to }}} brain - this theory has been carried forward, }}} expanded upon, and is now recognized as a pos- }}} sible component of the behavior of many animals }}} other than humans] What's the difference? Well, for christians, "choice" is a fundamental and necessary concept for justifying a ticket to heaven or hell. Without assigning a total responsibility for a "choice" for each human to "believe" or "disbelieve" his/her way to an ultimate destiny, christians have trouble explaining a reason why an ultimate heaven/hell destiny is just or worthy. This "choice" concept is required so that christians can dismiss the concept that any human "choice" to be christian is nothing more than a complex naturalistic result of a person's genes/memes/life experiences. Generally, this "choice" to be christian is a direct result of having been born to a particular set of parents, at a particular time, in a particular place, exposed to a particular social/cultural system by which submission to "believe" in christian faith is pervasive. For christians, perceiving humans as solely naturalistic stimuli-response entities is unacceptable, for christians require that humans have something independent of the stimuli-response equation, a totally responsible identity which explains how a god could justify a "choice" as a valid means to have a "right choice" = heaven and a "wrong choice" = hell, with the human making the "choice" totally responsible for that choice, no matter what the genes/memes/life experiences which impacted that "choice" were. For christians, that something is a magical spiritual entity within, yet unbounded by, the body/genes/ memes/life experiences and that something is called a soul. For scientists, that something is a naturalistic entity resulting from a person's genes/memes/life experi- ences and that something is called an ego. Same deal, except that scientists recognize that the naturalistic means by which humans seek to protect their own being and further their own genes/memes is understood as a complex survival mechanism, impacted by genes and memes consisting of social/ cultural interactions and other life experiences, with nothing magical or outside of genes-stimuli-response about it. }}} [aside - in the following, carbon unit used for }}} human at times as a reflection of my exposure }}} to and appreciation for the philosophies }}} expressed in the original Star Trek TV series] An ego is a means by which a particular carbon unit interacts in order to perpetuate, primarily, itself, and secondarily, its common gene and meme pool (fellow humans with focus on family followed by humans out- side of the family but of the same or similar religion, social group, race, creed, color, ideology, nationality, political views, or common interests). Now, scientifically, the ego is a complex result of being a carbon unit with genes/memes/life experiences, a stimuli-response way in which the carbon unit carries out its natural function in a natural world. If you feed a carbon unit the meme that it must follow the belief meme of its parents and win a wonderful immortality or reject the belief meme of its parents and suffer ostracization and earn a horrific hell, if its genes, co-resident memes, and life experiences have resulted in a predisposition to said belief meme, it will follow the belief meme of its parents. If its genes, co-resident memes, and life experiences have resulted in a disinclin- ation to said belief meme, it will leverage off of the belief meme of its parents by modifying it or rejecting it. Simply put, every action of every carbon unit is under- standable and explainable as a natural consequence, a result, of all the genes, memes, and life experiences each carbon unit consists of. Switching back to the soul idea, every soul has no "choice" free of its genes/memes/life experiences and every soul, therefore, is a slave to, a result of, whatever genes/memes/life experiences that particu- lar soul consists of. Genes plus stimuli-response, no more, no less. Take this post, for example. I could not possibly be writing this post unless the thoughts were coming to me from somewhere/somehow. Where do those thoughts come from and how do they get here? A so-called "choice" that is somehow magically independent of all that is me? -or- A culmination of genes/memes/life experiences that defines that which is the totality of me? Is there any me apart from my genes/memes/life experiences? No. I am a result, this post is a result, of all that has been before this moment in my life, all my genes, memes, and life experiences, and all genes that have come before me that are a part of my genes, as well as all memes that led to the memes that influ- enced me as well as all life experiences and pre-life experiences that led to the life experiences I've been exposed to <deep breath>, no more, no less. I cannot act apart from those factors. I can only act based on those factors. Those factors are what I am. Those factors are me. I am no more, no less, than what those factors have made me to be. I am a result, not a god, a result of all that has been a part of me before these thoughts entered my mind and became manifest in this post. This post is a result of all that is me to this very moment in time, and all that is me is my genes/memes/life experiences, no more, no less. My actions are 100 percent tied to my genes/memes/ life experiences, and, as such, my actions are ... ... (by generally accepted, though unsubstantiated, assertions) ... ~50 percent genetic ... ~50 percent memetic, with life experiences being a part of that meme pool ... Now, given all that, with the simplistic soul "choice" for heaven/hell as promoted by those of faith, I must inquire ... Will my genes go to heaven or hell? After all, they are ~50 percent of me and no one has posited that I or my soul or anything that "chooses" holds me responsible for my genes. Will my memes and life experiences (the totality of all that impacted me in this life) go to heaven or hell? After all, based on my genes -and- memes -and- life experi- ences, I respond as a stimuli-response entity, and as such, my genes -and- memes -and- life experiences are as responsible for my "choices" as is my soul or ego. ... To put it in terms traditionalists are more familiar with, will all the persons and beings who had a part to play in the genes/memes/life experiences that made the me that exists, will they end up in heaven or hell or will I? Is that just or worthy, the concept that any entity would ultimately end up where that entity's genes/memes/life experiences have caused that entity to be? In essence, based on the logical presentment in this post, isn't hell/heaven a fatally flawed concept as there really are no "choices" based on anything but that which is outside of the control (for the most part) of each of us, our genes/memes/life experiences, and those so-called "choices" aren't really "choices" as perceived by traditionalists at all, but rather, are results based on stimuli, no more, no less? Ah, which brings us to (side-tracking for a moment) ... A paradox of concern to the "free will" and "responsibility" crowd ... When society tries to punish or enact justice on someone, what exactly is society trying to punish? The person's genes, for which no one holds the person responsible? The person's memes and life experiences which, after all, the person, the soul, the ego, was merely surrounded by and, as a stimuli-response entity, could not justly be held responsible for as each of us does not choose our parents, our language, our culture, our expo- sure to stimuli through which, from birth, each of us builds throughout life, all based on prior memes/life experience and none existing independent of same ... Isn't so-called justice little more than choosing a carbon unit to bear the blame for all the genes/memes/life exper- iences that resulted in his/her action? Does that not call into question our lack of wisdom in singling out a parti- cular carbon unit for punishment for an action which is nothing more than a result of all that a particular carbon unit's genes/memes/life experiences have led him/her to be? Put another way, punishment of a single carbon unit is unjust as a single carbon unit is a complex result, not a causal agent as a god above and apart from its genes/ memes/life experiences. One might counter, oh well, let's make a carbon unit that functions improperly pay the total price for those factors outside its control which led to its actions, thereby providing a meme/life experience that will both discourage the carbon unit's repeating of said crime and will teach others not to do the crime. So, basically, one is stating that by performing an injustice (an unjust crime of undeserved inhumanity, as clearly iter- ated by the gene/meme/life experience explanation of why we do what we do) one posits that fewer injustices (crimes as defined by society) will occur. I submit to you that injustice begets nothing but injustice and dehumanization. I submit to you that supporting a system of injustice does nothing but promote disrespect for systems which are perceived as anti-human and unjust. I submit to you that a crime of inhumanity begets crimes as defined by society and does nothing but lower the quality of life for us all. Our so-called systems of justice are flawed memes, based largely on terribly flawed religious systems, anti-human and counterproductive. The "choice" myth? Time to die. "Choice", better understood as "response", and I affirm and present to you, the absolutely logically sound posi- tion that the "choice", the "response", is an inevitable bounded act based on genes/memes/life experiences. We, all of us, are impacting one another constantly on a meme level. We, all of us, are part of one another on both a genetic and memetic level. We, all of us and all who came before us who have impacted us, are players when any good deed is done in which we were a part of the gene or meme pool or life experience impacting that good deed. We, all of us and all who came before us who have impacted us, are players when any bad deed is done in which we were a part of the gene or meme pool or life experience impacting that bad deed. In essence, all that is ... is part of all we are ... the good and the bad ... the rich and the poor ... and all we are ... is a result of ... all that is, no more, no less. Is this ultimate irresponsibility or ultimate responsibility? I submit it's ultimate responsibility for no act, kind or unkind, no thought, no deed, exists alone and apart from the genes/memes/life experiences of the individual committing the act/thought/deed. That act/thought/deed is best under- stood as a result, NOT an act/thought/deed independent of the genes/memes/life experiences which resulted in the act/thought/deed. We are all responsible for (or connected to, if you prefer) all each of us does, with ultimate responsi- bility residing at the doorstep of naturalistic explanations for our being that which we are. Understood on that level, and relating to religious folks on the religious level, all who had a part of the genes or memes or life experiences of a person who "chooses" belief/heaven are a part of that "choice" and are as deserving, or even more so, of a place in that heaven as is the person who supposedly is destined for that heaven. All who had a part of the genes or memes or life experiences of a person who "chooses" disbelief/hell are a part of that "choice" and are as deserving, or even more so, of a place in that hell as is the person who supposedly is destined for that hell. Doesn't this entire post shift our social/cultural/religious pre- sumptions on individual acclaim/accountability/guilt into an entirely different and more accurate position? Aren't we all, every one of us, so intertwined with our genes/memes/life experiences that it's logically impossible to separate us from that and hold each of us acclaimable/ accountable/guilty on an ultimate level as if our genes/ memes/life experiences played no determining role in our actions? My friends, our genes/memes/life experiences are the entirety of that which we are and, as such, are the entirety of that which we do. We are not as the bible, as religions, as our societies and cultures, pretend we are. We are results, we are beings that react to stimuli based on genes/memes/life experiences. We are a brotherhood and sisterhood of sentient beings, con- nected to the acts, both good and bad, of each of us and the consequences, both good and bad, resulting from the acts of each of us. Those, I submit, are logically sound postulations because no one can tie any single action, not the "&&&" typing in this post, not the white blood cells rushing to fight micro- bial invaders trying to attack my body through two surface cuts I experienced last night, not the electrical and chemical activity taking place in my brain at this moment, not any action any entity takes in this life, on this earth, at any time 'til now in any place other than that of a result of all the genes, memes, and life experiences that entity consists of. It can get no clearer than this in this life. In the knowing is the growing and in that expansion of the concept of that which we call life, we, all of us, can and should recognize our common bond with one another and our common group responsibility for all that is, on this earth, in this life, at this time. Peace, and may this knowledge enable you to take on a more caring and mutually responsible position towards bridging the gap between rich and poor, between perceived deserving and undeserving, between perceived acclaim- worthy and disdain-worthy. May we all humble ourselves and recognize that but for the naturalistic interactions of all that came before, any of us might be that esteemed rich entrepreneur or that dispos- sessed street corner beggar for all of us are the result of our genes (not of our choosing), our memes (not of our choosing as they're complex stimuli we are exposed to from a young and vulnerable age), and life experiences (the totality of all that surrounds us). - - - For a complementary perspective on this topic, see We are all One ... (102500) http://prohuman.net/philosophy_freelover/we_are_all_one.htm "... with the cosmos. We flow through life with the illusion of control, but with very little we are actually in control of, an inevitable event/being in a vast cosmos of time and space, inextricably linked to one another and to our surroundings in which we find ourselves. ..." - - -