this post was submitted on 20 May 2025
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But your whim wouldn't really be random. It may seem random to you but there would be a reason behind it. How did you find out about the random place? You would've had to of come to the decision that you wanted something different somehow
This implies that every action must have a reason behind it, which I frankly find a laughable concept. Human beings are irrational creatures; our actions don't require a reason. We have the ability to choose chaos. Unless your argument is that the cells in my stomach have the ability to know what kind of food they want and can unconsciously pass that information to my brain, there's no reason for me to decide at 8:00 PM tonight "Hey, I want to eat Pakistani food."
In fact, I could choose an invalid choice! Say I chose Pakistani. I would logically need to find a Pakistani restaurant to order from. What if they all closed at 8? What if I didn't have a Pakistani restaurant near me? I may make a decision that ultimately, I cannot act upon, and then I would have to introduce some constraints to my decision making process. The decisions that follow would have a reason, but the initial whim doesn't require one.
How did you hear about pakistani food? Where did you hear about Pakistan recently enough to recall it? Was it food related or not? If you look deep enough, yes sometimes unconsciously, we make these decisions that seem random but they are not. In a real scenario, not one just made up for the sake of debate, theres gonna be underlying reasons for your "random" choice. You could even try your darndest to be random and choose the first thing that comes to mind but you are still digging for things that it ties to "that would be unlikely therefore random" when in reality its just a word or concept you've unconsciously defined as unusual or different. I don't think there is a human element or ability to choose chaos like you think there is. It just appears that way because thats the only way we are capable of perceiving it
Then we must agree to disagree, because there really isn't any further to debate. My argument is that human beings are irrational and capable of making irrational decisions. Your argument is that irrationality is merely a pretense, and that there must be a confluence of factors that caused these things to happen. I think trying to constantly find a reason when one doesn't need to exist is a path to madness, and that is why I believe in free will.
I can respect that. Good closure to a discussion!