Does Fate Exist?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-03-05 05:40pm

I'm curious on everyone's views on this since a thread on SB.com has asked the same question.

So do we all have free will and a clean slate for the future or are we all led by particle models and chemical reactions?

Post by **Kuja** » 2003-03-05 05:44pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:So do we all have free will and a clean slate for the future or are we all led by particle models and chemical reactions?

Both.

Basic functionary needs (eat, sleep, shit, sex, etc) take a major role in life. However, we choose how we want to fulfill those needs. We choose what we eat, where we sleep (I have a friend who hates his bed and sleeps on the floor), etc. That's all basic biological desires.

How we fulfill them is up to us.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2003-03-05 05:45pm

No, Fate does not exist.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-03-05 05:46pm

IG-88E wrote:
Admiral Valdemar wrote:So do we all have free will and a clean slate for the future or are we all led by particle models and chemical reactions?
Both.

Basic functionary needs (eat, sleep, shit, sex, etc) take a major role in life. However, we choose how we want to fulfill those needs. We choose what we eat, where we sleep (I have a friend who hates his bed and sleeps on the floor), etc. That's all basic biological desires.

How we fulfill them is up to us.

But could that not be down to something on a fundamental level? Take food for instance, I like pepperoni pizza while my friend likes ham. Taste is interpreted differently by each human as is colour, could the slight anomalies in my mate's taste buds lead his brain to not receive the taste of pepproni as well as mine?

...

Be right back, need food.

Ravencrow · Post by **Ravencrow** » 2003-03-05 05:49pm

I believe in Fate to some small extend. Fate is something that is totally out of your control - like who your parents are and where you are born into.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-03-05 05:59pm

Fate usually refers to some entity or force that influences human events. I don't believe this exists. I do believe, however, that people can be affected by factors beyond their control, like upbringing, location of birth and such, but I don't think we need fate to explain this fact.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-03-05 06:06pm

IG-88E wrote:
Admiral Valdemar wrote:So do we all have free will and a clean slate for the future or are we all led by particle models and chemical reactions?
Both.

Basic functionary needs (eat, sleep, shit, sex, etc) take a major role in life. However, we choose how we want to fulfill those needs. We choose what we eat, where we sleep (I have a friend who hates his bed and sleeps on the floor), etc. That's all basic biological desires.

How we fulfill them is up to us.

But could that not be down to something on a fundamental level? Take food for instance, I like pepperoni pizza while my friend likes ham. Taste is interpreted differently by each human as is colour, could the slight anomalies in my mate's taste buds lead his brain to not receive the taste of pepproni as well as mine?

Andrew J. · Post by **Andrew J.** » 2003-03-05 07:07pm

Depends on whether or not subatomic particles move randomly.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-03-05 07:09pm

One question that has often bugged me is: why did my sentience take root in this body and personality? Why not someone else? Why this particular one?

Does fate exist? I don't know.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-03-05 07:10pm

Shinova wrote:One question that has often bugged me is: why did my sentience take root in this body and personality? Why not someone else? Why this particular one?

Does fate exist? I don't know.

Your sentience is connected to your mind and body. It can't move about on its own.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-03-05 07:13pm

Durran Korr wrote:
Shinova wrote:One question that has often bugged me is: why did my sentience take root in this body and personality? Why not someone else? Why this particular one?

Does fate exist? I don't know.
Your sentience is connected to your mind and body. It can't move about on its own.

I didn't say move. I said why did my sentience develop on this particular one....

GAH, nevermind.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2003-03-05 07:17pm

Shinova wrote:One question that has often bugged me is: why did my sentience take root in this body and personality? Why not someone else? Why this particular one?

Does fate exist? I don't know.

Because your body has higher-level brain functions that allow it to be sentient.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-03-05 07:19pm

Shinova wrote:
Durran Korr wrote:
Shinova wrote:One question that has often bugged me is: why did my sentience take root in this body and personality? Why not someone else? Why this particular one?

Does fate exist? I don't know.
Your sentience is connected to your mind and body. It can't move about on its own.
I didn't say move. I said why did my sentience develop on this particular one....

GAH, nevermind.

Becuase it was shaped uniquely according to experiences you have had while within your body. It could develop nowhere else.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-03-05 07:22pm

Fate? As in, predetermination? Everything all written out ahead of time?

No.

Shadow WarChief · Post by **Shadow WarChief** » 2003-03-05 07:44pm

Fate as in everything predetermined?

Yes

determined by som über-super being?

NO!!!

Can we know our fate?

NO!!!!!!

Fate is determined simply by the way things are: I.E. Hit a pool ball at an angle, and it will bounce off at that same angle. So unless there's some sub-atomic randomness that I don't know about, just shrink the pool table down to the atomic level.

Yes, I know, that is an absurdly simple analogy, but the same principle applies.

Trytostaydead · Post by **Trytostaydead** » 2003-03-05 07:57pm

Predestination versus Free will?

Mmmm, I think people have a destiny, but the rest is free will. The path is independent of the destination.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2003-03-05 08:35pm

Trytostaydead wrote:Predestination versus Free will?

Mmmm, I think people have a destiny, but the rest is free will. The path is independent of the destination.

The destination is death.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2003-03-05 08:53pm

And lets not forget the effect that the jack-ass doing 90 miles per hour and has cross four lanes of traffic NOW has on our lives.

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2003-03-05 08:56pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:I'm curious on everyone's views on this since a thread on SB.com has asked the same question.

So do we all have free will and a clean slate for the future or are we all led by particle models and chemical reactions?

To a certain extent, your actions and how your life will turn out are entirely deterministic. One one level, you are driven by impulses hard-wired into your hindbrain and midbrain. Your reactions are also driven by your experiences. So, if one uses a sophisticated enough MDA (multivariate discriminant analysis) one could concievably come up with a reasonably accurate model of how you might react. (For example, we could say you have a 76% probability of reacting one way, a 20% probability of reacting another way, and a 4% chance of something else, just to make it all even.) So, really you have little actual free will. But, since the computing costs of putting together such a statistical analysis would be prohibitive, it looks like you have free will, since the casual observer is not assumed to have such power at hand.

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2003-03-05 08:59pm

Shinova wrote:One question that has often bugged me is: why did my sentience take root in this body and personality? Why not someone else? Why this particular one?

Does fate exist? I don't know.

Your consciousness is a product of your genetic predispositions, your environment, and your life experiences. It did not fly into the window one day and say "I shall inhabit this body."

THEHOOLIGANJEDI · Post by **THEHOOLIGANJEDI** » 2003-03-06 05:23pm

I don't like the concept of fate at all. But if there is fate, then we can surely change it.

Ravencrow · Post by **Ravencrow** » 2003-03-06 05:32pm

If you can change it, it's not called fate.

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