Purpose by Design

In the last post I mused about how a deterministic universe would hold no room for true freedom of choice because every thought would ultimately originate from conditions and effects outside my control. If fully embraced that realisation would mean a number of troublesome conclusion. But is it practical to do so?

I have awareness of myself and my place in my surroundings but this awareness is incomplete because both the input and the processing capabilities are very limited. It might not be possible to really understand how the universe works. But it's possible to answer the question: What am I designed to do? Every organ of the body has it's distinct purpose. It's not too weird to believe that the same is true for our perceptions. There is a place for intuition, feelings, emotions just as there is a place for logical, rational, analytical thinking. The fact that both exist is a strong hint that it proved beneficial in the context of evolution to have these potentially contradicting approaches to process input. The same is likely true for concepts such as morality or free will - they might be shortcuts or illusions but they are just a part of being human like having a heart or two feet is.

You can use the gift of awareness to put all the things in the right perspective, to weight them depending on the situation, but you can't really change or deny what you perceive, feel and think. There is no point in trying to make your heart stop beating. There is no point in questioning the way your brain processes the input it gets. You can just try to configure it so it performs in the best possible way.

And what's best? We got a meter for that too: it's called happiness. There might be no purpose to life but your body gives you a purpose by design. Questions like whether true freedom of choice exists or not, whether there is a god or not, whether we have a soul, whether there's life after death... none have to be answered. Pursue happiness and you're doing exactly what you're meant to do!

A society advocating Individual Liberty gives the individual the best chances to align his actions with his wishes and do what it takes to become happy. The validity of values like freedom and liberty are not based on the existence of true freedom of choice at all but on the human design.