What we can and cannot control

[Chrisinmd]

Here is a few really good paragraphs I just read from a book about how luck and genetics figures into things. A lot of things are not in our control in life. So don't stress about things you can do nothing about and realize how lucky you are compared to others.


What We Can and Cannot Control

written by Michael Shermer


"There is, of course, the luck of being born at all. The ratio of the number of people who could have been born to those who actually were born is incalculably large—trillions to one. Then there is the luck of being born in a country with a stable political system, a sound economy, and a solid infrastructure, rather than, say, in lower caste India, war-torn Syria, or anarchic Somalia. If you were unlucky enough to be born in one of those countries, you can hardly be blamed for a life outcome of poverty and destitution, and if you managed to get out of such a horrific environment there’s a good chance that in addition to being intelligent, creative, and a high-risk taker, you probably had some help along the way.

[SNIP - edited for Copyright and to stay within Fair Use standards.]


What We Can and Cannot Control

written by Michael Shermer


Thoughts?

 

[dvcochran]

It sounds like most of what was said is regarding what cannot be controlled. I am exponentially more impressed by those who do not fit the mold they are cast into.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

We have little to no control over many aspects of our circumstances. However, we also find that we can make choices which will have transformative effects on our lives. But even in making these choices, we do not always control how our choices will affect our outcomes, good or bad. We can make bad decisions that lead us in positive directions, we can make good decisions that do not result in the positive changes we had hoped for. Sometimes, we get what we plan to get when we make choices.

All this to say that I am neither the victim of the accidents of my birth and upbringing, nor am I unaffected by those aspects of my life which I had and have no control over.

When I can choose is how to react to the circumstances in which I find myself. That choice, at least to some extent, belongs to me.

 

[jobo]

you have no control at all, you have no free will, your life has already happen, you just experience it slowly

 

[Buka]

We are doomed to happenstance and luck of the draw. We have control over nothing. We should lie down and await our inevitable fate like the nothings we are.

Curly said it best. All hail Curly.

 

[Danny T]

 

[dvcochran]

View attachment 22178

Fantastic, absolutely fantastic.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

We are doomed to happenstance and luck of the draw. We have control over nothing. We should lie down and await our inevitable fate like the nothings we are.

Curly said it best. All hail Curly.

Reminded me of this.

 

[hoshin1600]

While some of you are being tongue in cheap or sarcastic about having no controll at all, there are neural scientists who say there is no free will. That what we think are choices we make, are actually pre determined by many factors we are just being to understand

 

[Buka]

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”

-Ernest Hemmingway

 

[hoshin1600]

 

[hoshin1600]

but then on the contrary

 

[hoshin1600]

in depth look at free will.

 

[hoshin1600]

i would propose like wheeler"s light particle experiment, that we are both deterministic and have free will.
Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment - Wikipedia

 

[dvcochran]

While some of you are being tongue in cheap or sarcastic about having no controll at all, there are neural scientists who say there is no free will. That what we think are choices we make, are actually pre determined by many factors we are just being to understand

Yes, and the earth is square. That sounds like its own attempt at a form of control.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

While some of you are being tongue in cheap or sarcastic about having no controll at all, there are neural scientists who say there is no free will. That what we think are choices we make, are actually pre determined by many factors we are just being to understand

We're just spirits in the material world.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Rush: Freewill

You can choose a ready guide
In some celestial voice
If you choose not to decide
You still have made a choice
You can choose from phantom fears
And kindness that can kill
I will choose a path that's clear
I will choose free will

 

[Chrisinmd]

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”

-Ernest Hemmingway

Great quote. Love it

 

[Gerry Seymour]

While some of you are being tongue in cheap or sarcastic about having no controll at all, there are neural scientists who say there is no free will. That what we think are choices we make, are actually pre determined by many factors we are just being to understand

My opinion is that this position is a significant over-reading of the data, both its significance and its meaning.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Yeah, that's the overreach I was speaking of. He's assuming a trend both means what he has decided (yep, he made that decision) it means, and that it must continue inevitably in that direction. He's also confounding the idea of limited range of reactions (the shirt choice comment) with the concept of no choice at all.