do you believe in destiny???

[JimOttley]

Now that's an awkward philosophical question Rani

Whatever happened to you in the past and wherever you ended up now as a result of those events, was and is your destiny at this point in time. Right now all of us have an extremely large number of possible futures but once we get there it will have been destiny

The world gives us the impression that we have free will, whether we do or not is a totally different question, I used to think I knew the answer but now I am not so sure.


Jim

[Doc Alan]

I used to think I knew the answer but now I am not so sure.


Jim

I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure
But seriously Rani, as I've explained elsewhere, I go on probabilities (100% that eventually i will die, and much less than 1% that I will first win the lottery )

[JimOttley]

I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure

lol

But seriously Alan, I used to have good grounds for a world view that allowed the illusion of free will in a predestined individually threaded reality and oddly enough that was based on probabilities and probability theory.

The reason I am no longer so sure, is partly that the arrogance and certainty of youth has worn off over the years and also I have watched with fascination the developments in cosmology and fundamental physics which have extended many theories in extremely unforeseen directions and also closed off many interpretations that were considered pretty much dead certs only a couple of decades ago.

From a purely human perspective there are experiments in cognition that have shown actions and decisions being taken by people prior to conscious awareness of said actions, so does that imply destiny and denial of free will or not?

Perhaps self awareness is just an illusion, an emergent property of the physical organisation of an interconnected network of structures we call neurones, although personally I think it is more complex than that

The simple fact that the universe is capable of supporting what goes on inside my head, i.e. my personal experience of reality, is a quite staggering thought.... when you think about it deeply enough and I have spent a lot of time thinking about it over the years.

The problem with discussing conciousness and free will is that one always ends up with tautologies.

Destiny likewise being caught up in a human interpretation of reality will also largely result in tautological arguments.

By the way Alan there is always the probability that any one of us could find ourselves in a universe where we personally keep lucking out and new medical advances extend our lifespan just before our time is due to expire, ultimately that kind of evolution may probably lead to transfer of conciousness and experience to self replicating machines at least in one universe's thread.

The ultimate expiry date for all of us is the death of this specific universe and the way that happens depends on the precise amount of matter that exists right now

As a side note look at today's announcement of Vitamin B's effect on Alzheimer's patients, now that was a bit unexpected was it not?

Still a bit early though as I dare say there need to be many more studies done that confirm this finding but it is very interesting for all us oldies and I guess in particular for a Mr Terry Pratchett, a wonderful mind, who suffers from the early stages of this horrible disease.

Regards the 100% certainty that you will die one day?

It ain't over till the fat lady sings sir and even then you wont be around to know you were right.

x -> x tautology

(fat lady sings -> won't be around, my blah blah blah hehehehe sorry Alan poor equations on my part )


Jim

P.S. Destiny can be very very painful.

My personal view?

It is destiny when one is optimistic about the future and about the results of past events. It is fate when you are depressed about the terrible things that have happened to you and the future is not clear.

Right now my future and my children's future is not clear. :(

[Doc Alan]

As a side note look at today's announcement of Vitamin B's effect on Alzheimer's patients, now that was a bit unexpected was it not?

Still a bit early though as I dare say there need to be many more studies done...

There are some thoughts for Rani, who started the thread...
As for the Alzheimer's study, it was on 168 patients, half of whom took the Vitamin B tablets and half took a placebo (if they remembered ). It suggested that high dosage of Vitamin B may halve the rate of brain shrinkage (which occurs to greater degree in those people developing Alzheimer's). More research is needed and there may be other health risks with high dosage of Vitamin B. (It's found naturally in meat, fish, eggs, and green vegetables).