Incompatible with Free Will | Last Precognition
“A projection could feel hungry, cold, pain, sadness, fear, anger, and happiness just like a human could. These people could all be a simulation, right?”
“Mm”
“Even so, I’d save all of them in a heartbeat.”
“!”
Hikaru turned his head to gaze at Elijah, whose figure was bathed in twilight’s glow.
Elijah had an honest smile on his face, free of concern about his well-being. He looked like a man who had no hesitation in sacrificing himself to save others.
Elijah’s kind demeanor exudes warmth, and Hikaru resonated with him.
No.
Even a rock that cannot produce heat could borrow warmth from something brilliant like the sun.
“They’re alive. Real or not. They are alive.”
Hikaru's heart string, which had been straining all this while, snapped.
“… They could all be made to make you weak and vulnerable-”
“Even if the enemy tried to lure me out by putting you down there, and you needed saving, I’d still save you and beat the crap out of them. That’s right. Even if you’re not real.”
Hikaru was speechless at hearing that.
How… foolish…
“… You do realize that if they created you, then there isn’t any concept of free will.”
“Huh?” Elijah said with a clueless face.
“You say that you want to save and protect people, but where does that come from? Your feelings and personality? They could be easily programmed. Your will isn’t your own.”
“So… You’re saying I shouldn’t do what I want to do?”
“!”
Hikaru stumbled onto something… A trail of light that was left behind by Elijah.
A Hero’s footsteps.
“So I shouldn’t save people? So should I stop fighting the bad guys? If my will isn’t mine, then I should just do the opposite and become a villain?
“What if I wanted to eat teriyaki chicken instead of sushi? I shouldn’t eat what I want? Then, if I wanted to take a shower or use the bathroom, I can’t?
“Should I just become a rock then? It's better to have no will than a will that was given to me, right?”
“…”
It was so simple, but Elijah was right.
Hard determinism: a doctrine that assumes human behaviors and decisions are driven by factors and influences over which a person has no real control. The concept can also describe nonhuman occurrences, showing that everything must be as it is and cannot possibly be different.
Just like how dominoes are set upright behind one another in a line… That is to say, once the dominoes are set, they will almost fall the same way.
However, can dominoes fall the same way the second time?
It's almost impossible, even if it was deliberate. However, it can be done only if the dominoes were set the same way as before. The micro weather, as well as the initial kinetic energy and impact conditions, must be replicated perfectly.
Many variables can affect the outcome of a domino fall to the smallest decimal point such as the number of dominoes, the geometry of the chain, the spacing between the dominoes, the speed of the falling dominoes, the shape of the domino track, the angle, and force of the initiation hit, the slipping of dominoes, the physical and chemical attributes of the dominoes and their manufacturing differences, external friction losses in the energy system, the amount of contact between dominoes other than the initial impact, the flatness of the surface on which the dominoes lay, the density and friction of the air, the temperature, nanoclimate, and other environmental conditions
If God exists and God is omnipotent. Then God would perfectly predict the future to an infinitesimal degree because he had the complete data set that included every discrete variable.
So as long as one can parse and manipulate every variable with precision, it is possible to control the outcome of something from the beginning. Since preconditions are set for the dominoes in a track, they will fall precisely according to pre-existing variables.
Similarly, human beings can be controlled before they are even born. From a few generations before, or before the current age of civilization, or when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
Or perhaps before the creation of the universe itself.
If one was truly omnipotent, and they manipulated perfectly the particles and explosion of the Big Bang, this present moment could all be orchestrated and merely be a stage of a play.
The so-called destiny of an individual could be engineered.
For example, Moses in the bible came into conflict with the Pharaoh to set his people free. However, in the book of Exodus, it was said that God created the Pharaoh to be stubborn.
Hence, the Pharaoh and his Kingdom were subjected to the Ten Plagues. The Pharaoh was made into an example.
He had acted according to his feelings and personality. However, is this free will?
Hard determinism states that “determinism” is true and is incompatible with free will.
Simply put, Hikaru was a hard determinist. A philosophical definition for someone who believes that there is no such thing as free will.
However, it was as Elijah said. Was free will then to mean to oppose the will resulting from the pre-existing conditions placed on oneself? The will and destiny that they were born with?
One had to either choose a will at random using a spinning wheel, or simply do the opposite of what their instincts told them.
However, if hard determinism was true, even God can perfectly design the timing, place, and the weather down to the positioning of the particles of air, the movement of photons in space, the random quantum fluctuations in reality that may accumulate into significant changes in the firing of neurons in the nervous system, to the orbits of elemental particles and other factors in the “microverse”.
So even a random event may not be truly random and their will to oppose their initial will was a scripted event and so isn’t an act of free will at all.
There was no point in life if one was living in opposition to themselves. In the end, there wasn’t a point in thinking about whether free will exists.
One needed to make the best of their life.
However, there was one way to defy God or the universe.
One needed to make the best of their life. However, there was one way to defy God or the universe.
Hikaru was going to follow his calling, even if the universe, God, or the System had programmed him to fail. He was going to overcome the fate set for him and make whoever created him SUFFER for their insolence.
Finally, a small smile returned to Hikaru’s face.
“Seriously… All you think about is saving people,” Hikaru complained sarcastically.
Elijah noticed Hikaru was back to his normal and confident self.
“I don’t really ‘think’ anymore. It just pops up naturally. I can’t help it, to be honest,” Elijah said sheepishly.
‘Seriously, you’re such an idiot. An adorable dumbass… I can’t do it after all.’
Hikaru had planned to assassinate Elijah at a moment’s weakness, but he couldn’t.
‘Sorry, my friend. I can’t end it quickly. You’ll just have to bear it…’
Hikaru knew it was best to kill Elijah quickly to lessen the pain that his best friend but truly himself would suffer, but he really couldn’t do it any earlier until he had to.
It was selfish, but he wanted this moment… this friendship to last a little longer… to smile more with his best friend, even if it was just for a day.
***
[Precognition]
[Warning: This is your last vision]
‘My last vision?’
With Hikaru’s super-fast speed, he appeared in front of Elijah in the blink of an eye and grabbed Elijah with his tentacles.
Elijah was immobilized by his arms and legs. Despite his elephant strength, he couldn’t even cause a ripple across Hikaru’s tentacles.
It was over in a flash.
###
25/07 update: Uploading a chapter is reduced to once per week until further notice. Sorry guys, my boss is leaving so I'll be running a grocery store on my own until I hire a team of employees. I also got to pass a selection process for the business opportunity too. Even I wasn't this busy with a full-time job before. If I don't hire someone, I'll be doing 99 hours every week.
I hope you guys enjoyed the bit of philosophy inspired by my watching of the Matrix. A lot of it was my own twists. I enjoyed studying a philosophy minor in my science degree. So you might have noticed some chapters invite a bit of thinking.
100% guaranteed upload? Oh god, I'm embarrassed. But if I pulled this at work or my business opportunity, it would truly be a nightmare.
Author's note 22/07/21:
Well, some unexpected events have happened. Good news. I've spent some time talking to a good friend about my personal strifes... about my step daughter, my work failures, my rough past etc. I've also had a zoom meeting to my friend's business mentor in the US.
He's an accomplished entrepreneur who personally worked with Robert Kiyosaki. I've made it into a six week selection process. If I pass, I'll embark on a long road to working in a large business then perhaps with this experience I could make my own company. Unfortunately, this adds 10-15 hours to my full-time work life.
However, I am determined in continuing this novel no matter how slowly because, its a practice of principle and time management. Someone told me that to handle the stress of responsibility is to take more responsibility not shirk away from it. Obviously, my commitment isn't strong enough. Yes, I'm exhausted but I should be fighting through that. Although when I'm exhausted and have a choice of either doing a thorough check of work stuff or writing more on my novel, I'd have to prioritize work and I'd even get more motivation from that! Sorry! :P
So that's the situation. I've mentioned about my life goals in my original novel- where the original timeline chapters come from. Although these are future chapters of the original novel. Anyways, these are my life dreams. I'll keep going until I die and will never stop because these are the things I must have. I'm not being dramatic or anything. These are simply the things I thrive for.
There shouldn't be a reason for no upload tomorrow morning unless... Oh god unless there's a work emergency.
I'm going to put some random bible text that has little relation to the next chapter to keep the word count high so that a despicable glitch won't happen on this server and affect the paywall price.