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But if we didn't believe in individual free will culture would stagnate. And the future definitely doesn't exist, it's just an idea.
You don't support either of those assertions... The first I doubt, because free will as an illusion is a far harder concept to grasp and integrate than mortality, so the proportion of folks who actually manage that will always be minuscule.
The second is refuted rather inescapably by special relativity; frames of reference certainly exist in which your future is in somebody else's past, strongly implying the future already exists, and that the perception of 'now' is a figment of awareness.
The universe doesn't provide free lunches, but it has some pretty snazzy tricks up its sleeve to balance the books...
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Kimmo
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because free will as an illusion is a far harder concept to grasp and integrate than mortality, so the proportion of folks who actually manage that will always be minuscule.
I would add philosophy and quantum physics to the list of things that wouldn't exist if we didn't believe we had agency.
The second is refuted rather inescapably by special relativity; frames of reference certainly exist in which your future is in somebody else's past, strongly implying the future already exists, and that the perception of 'now' is a figment of awareness.
There is no observable proof that the future exists, or at least you haven't shown us any, so we live our lives as if it didn't exist, wether it exists or not. Both realities result in the same behaviour.
William.
Keeping score might be misguided and inefficient, but we are programmed to do that. To some extent, attempting to be stronger/ smarter/ more original/ funnier / more beautiful than the next person has driven us to evolve, and our culture to expand.
Culture is an ongoing conversation with both the living and the dead. We like to see patterns and continue them, and we can model the future to some extent. But if we didn't believe in individual free will culture would stagnate. And the future definitely doesn't exist, it's just an idea.