Fate: Non-religious Topic About Deterministic Thinking

[Battlecruiser Operational]

I looked around the debate hall and was suprised to find that there aren't really any debates about determinism without the influence of religion. I think it's a very interesting subject.

The question: does fate exist? Do you believe that your life had a pre-determined purpose? If so, is your every action determined, or just the outcomes of your actions?

I'm gonna take a side here, but I might change sides to level out the sides. I don't believe in fate. I believe that there is nothing (remeber, the idea is to stay away from religion, we have enough religious topics). I feel that my actions are my choice. If I wanted to hop a bus to New York right now, I could do it.

Please respond -- I have a source at home, so I'll be updating this as soon as I get there (I'm at school).

 

[Bumble Bee Tuna]

The fact of the matter is, it doesn't matter.
It's obvious that we have the freedom to choose whatever we want. The question therefore lies in whether we are supposed to be making that choice according to some plan of fate. But think about that. Can you really describe that? Essentially it's just debating whether some force knows what we will choose. It never influences anything, therefore it doesn't matter.
Debating fate is ridiculous. Either it doesn't exist, or it doesn't influence anything, which is the same as not existing anyway.

-B

 

[Gandalf_Wizard]

If there was fate, and im not saying there is or is not, there would be no way to prove it. If you tried to do something completely crazy and did hop the bus to New York, you could make an argument that it was your fate to do so. A better example, you could say that it is someone's fate to try to disprove fate, so any argument made in this debate holds no ground.

 

[Destiny Smasher]

Can I just..post here? Hey, check out my name, I HAD to come here!

I beleive...that....fate can exist in one's mind...I like to use it as a writing tool for my fics....I think fate is not a force, more of our future....what our choices were meant to be in life..But we can change Fate, just as one, can delete the typing they post here on Smashboards and edit it.

That's me, Destiny Smasher, I am Fated to SAMSH!!!

 

[XDaDePsak]

"I think fate is not a force, more of our future....what our choices were meant to be in life..But we can change Fate, just as one, can delete the typing they post here on Smashboards and edit it."

What you think it is, and what it is defined as do not corelate. Fate is defined as a force-- an inevitable one at that.

 

[Space-Cadet]

Hopping on that bus would make it your fate . I believe in fate 100%. There are certain things that have to happen, and certain things open to influence. What you eat for lunch one day may not matter and be open, but you getting in a car accident does.

 

[Mugquomp]

I think that fate dpesn't really exist in any fashion, except that every choice of an action that one has is completed and branches off in a different universe, making an infinite number of universes besides the one that one thinks they are in at any given second. I guess I kind of got off on a tangent, but I don't think that fate exists in the way everyone is suggesting, but that every possible action happens.

 

[Battlecruiser Operational]

Okay, I'm gonna play devil's advocate here. Space-Cadet, how is it determined what fate influences and what is associated with free will? You say you believe in fate 100%, but you must draw the line somewhere.

Sorry, forgot about that source from the first post in this topic. I'll try to rememeber to get it tonight.

 

[PorCorpWis]

Since the moment the universe existed, a sufficiently advanced intelligence could use the laws of physics to describe what each and every piece of matter or energy in the universe would do as time went on. Nothing happens randomly, even subatomic processess. There are laws which govern them which are currently too complex for us to understand. Therefore, everything that has ever happened or ever will happen is already determained. Even our brains are not free of the constraints of non-randomness. Our thoughts and feelings occur because of movements of matter, not a magical soul or something.

Now here's the kicker... just because everything is predetermained by the laws of physics doesn't mean that we have no free will. If you went back to the past, it is sure that if everything were exactly identical to how it was before (including the configuration of your brain), then you would have made exactly the same decisions. However, just because we can chose no other than we already have doesn't mean that all other decisions one could have made mean nothing. If the configuation of your brain had been different, ie you held a different opinion about something, you were hungry, or some other influnce, you would have chosen something else. It's difficult to understand, even counterintuitive.

P.S. It's rediculous to think that every possible outcome to every action branches off in to an infinite about of alternate universes. Things can occur no other than exactly how they do without breaking the laws of physics.

 

[Evil Dr. Reef]

I think that in order to have time travel, you must have fate. You can't change the past because at one point it was the present. If you think you can travel into the future, you have to believe in fate because without fate, the future would not exist yet. Anyway, back to the traveling back in time. If you travel back in time, you can't change anything because if you actually do, your reason for being in the past does not happen, and you don't change the thing, and the thing happens anyway. It's all a big paradox that relies on fate to exist.

 

[BinkysEvolution]

I don't believe in fate for probably the same reasons as most other people: I don't believe it because I'm afraid it's true (kinda like why a lot of people believe there isn't global warming and half a dozen other controversial topics). If one suddenly knew (without a shadow of a doubt) that all of our choices and thoughts and dreams were preordained and that nothing we ever thought or did could possibly change anything, then wouldn't it take all of the fun out of it all?

BTW, it's not rediculous to believe in infinite alternate universes based on every possible choice ever made. Actually, it's one of the few ideas that allow time travel to the past without the inherent paradoxes.

 

[Kokichi]

I don't believe in fate. Fate is another word for inevitable, and nothing is inevitable. Anything is possible, but not everything is probable. Infact, MOST stuff isn't probable.

 

[XDaDePsak]

ok this topic is just getting stupid. <img border="0" alt="[Skull]" title="" src="graemlins/skull.gif" />