What is choice? How exactly are choices made within the self?
I propose that
choice is an illusion, that there is no such thing as free choice the way we
think of it. Whether you agree with this
or not, what makes choices? Is it the
brain or something else? Haruki Murakami
refers to the self as the “mind”, something different and separate from the
brain. The brain is that organic lump of
tissue inside your head; the mind is
the soul, the essence of one’s personality.
Which of these makes choices?
Consider the
brain as a computer, admittedly a complex one made of biochemical bits and
bytes rather than silicon and microchips.
If the brain is the computer, then the mind – or the self – is the
program, the software itself.
With that in
mind (no pun intended), this software has already been encoded with the most
complex program and series of algorithms that have never been conceived. Our “self” is nothing more than a collection
of gates – AND gates, OR gates, etc – with any possible outcome to a so-called
choice already hardcoded into our personality.
Given a set of two choices, an OR gate will always produce the same
result, completely predictable. And so
goes your mind.
From the
simple to the complex, any choice that could ever be offered you has already
been factored into your programming.
Whether you will stop to pick up a dime you see on the ground, whether
you will choose the steak or the chicken on a particular night at a restaurant,
all of these choices have already been made for you. You
will never freely choose anything, you are simply carrying out instructions
given to you.
Everything
you do, every action you perform, every “emotion” you think you feel, it has
all been preordained by this higher programming. If it were possible to dissect your mind,
your self, then every single moment of your day could be predicted with perfect
accuracy. We consider ourselves human
because of these illusions of choice, perception, and emotions. In reality, we are nothing more than
machines. Vulcans had it right, they
were much closer to the truth in their abandonment of emotions and pursuit of
logic.
(copyright 2004 by mdl)