See, I don't see much if any problem at all with the idea of predestination, the idea that our fates are already set and our futures are immutably written. The problem isn't that! The problem is that there isn't sufficient awareness and understanding, of the details and implications.
For instance. I went out to a eat, at a restaurant. I had no idea what I was going to order, and it took me forever to decide. This inconvenienced not only the person I was with, who was hungry, but also the wait staff, and even (since the restaurant was busy) the next couple for that table, to whom the delay filtered down.
But if universal predestination were true, and most importantly: if it were known - then the kitchen would have had our meals going already as we walked in! Our appetizers would be delivered to the table as we were seated! They would have known already what we would have inevitably ordered, and there would our own chosen choices be. Presto, Geronimo - bon appetit!
I don't see it as a free will problem. I mean, the kitchen didn't coerce us. Those were the menu choices that we would have always made. Foreknowledge doesn't necessarily entail coercion - not unless you know the mechanism by which the foreknowledge is acquired, and can show that it is a coercive mechanism.
So since we can't know how it works, I say: don't sweat the mechanism! Just dig in and enjoy the potential benefits.
For instance. I went out to a eat, at a restaurant. I had no idea what I was going to order, and it took me forever to decide. This inconvenienced not only the person I was with, who was hungry, but also the wait staff, and even (since the restaurant was busy) the next couple for that table, to whom the delay filtered down.
But if universal predestination were true, and most importantly: if it were known - then the kitchen would have had our meals going already as we walked in! Our appetizers would be delivered to the table as we were seated! They would have known already what we would have inevitably ordered, and there would our own chosen choices be. Presto, Geronimo - bon appetit!
I don't see it as a free will problem. I mean, the kitchen didn't coerce us. Those were the menu choices that we would have always made. Foreknowledge doesn't necessarily entail coercion - not unless you know the mechanism by which the foreknowledge is acquired, and can show that it is a coercive mechanism.
So since we can't know how it works, I say: don't sweat the mechanism! Just dig in and enjoy the potential benefits.
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