The Illusion of choice ( do we really have a say in our lives?)
“The illusion of choice is the greatest magic trick ever performed.”
-Ziad K. Abdelnour
I used to believe that we have a say on what’s going to happen to us in the future and that we are completely free to choose whatever we want in life. But recent realizations have made me reevaluate my point of view about this.
The Universe has a set of laws that determines its state in the past, present and future. We can study these laws and apply it to know how a system or object evolves over time. (Quantum Physics restricts us though because it gives us a Probabilistic Universe.)But the point is, any object that is in the universe is governed by these laws of nature(including us) . Although, we are unaware of these invisible laws. every choice we make is influenced by outside factors that obey these laws.
These outside factors are our environments which include the people around us and the things we consume like food, ideas,entertainment, etc.
The food we eat determines our biochemistry. (which affects things like our temper.) The things we watch or read influence our thoughts. Our social class determines a bunch of things about our future including our health(physical and mental), IQ level, and even morality. Time and time again, these things are validated by researches being done every year.
Some people might say that there are some people who overcome the limitations given to them by nature and that’s the proof that we are still free to choose whatever life we want. But I think we only see things in Micro level but when we view things in Macro Level. We’re going to see that the outcome of their future are still determined by their environment, the things they consume because of the resources that they have, The support that they get from the people around them, the mindset that they have because of some ideas that they got from an influence from the past or present.
My main point is that the decisions that we make in the present do not come from ours alone. They come from the combination of all the things we experience, the people we interact with, the food we consume, the books we read, the movies we watch, the music we listen to. These are the things that shape our choices not us.
It might sound like a defeatist attitude to have, but I think accepting that we are not completely in control will make us humble. It will make us realize that we are not the masters of the Universe.
