How to not be a fatalist? Need help from people who care about true beliefs.

6 Laoch 07 December 2013 07:17PM

Dear LessWrongers

I've been struggling a bit with the idea of fatalism or at least I keep find myself slipping that direction.To be clear the only reason I use the word fatalism is because of it's dictionary definition. I have not allegiance to the concept. Are there powerful arguments to counter fatalism? I've read the sequence about dissolving the question about free will for example, i.e. I understand how the question itself(have I free will?) is incoherent. I.e. free from what?

I also accept that I am a physics and that my cognition and subjective experience are more than adequately accounted for by non mysterious understandings of the evolution of life. However I can't seem to figure out a way of reconciling my current understanding of those ideas with the idea that I'm in control of my future. Maybe I already have the answer and haven't got the corresponding affective/emotional state which is not an unprecedented problem for me.

My biggest fear is that for me to believe that my future is not set that I'm going to take on some irrational silly belief? Can anybody give some useful algo's for thinking about this in a coherent, detached from desire way?

One thing that I've heard is that physics is non-deterministic but I always thought that had to do with the observer. Surely particles were going to do what they were going to do anyway regardless of whether I can determine the reason or not?

Thanks for reading,

Laoch 

Meetup : Less Wrong Dublin

1 Laoch 22 January 2013 02:06PM

Discussion article for the meetup : Less Wrong Dublin

WHEN: 02 February 2013 04:30:20PM (+0000)

WHERE: 28 Dame St Dublin, Co. Dublin

A meeting of minds.

Discussion article for the meetup : Less Wrong Dublin

Meetup : Less Wrong Dublin

2 Laoch 14 January 2013 09:32PM

Discussion article for the meetup : Less Wrong Dublin

WHEN: 19 January 2013 04:30:59PM (+0000)

WHERE: 28 Dame St Dublin, Co. Dublin

Martin O'Dea would like to talk about his ideas on the Open Ireland Party. Other topics and all welcome. Provisionally I would suggest The Mercantile on Dame Street.

Discussion article for the meetup : Less Wrong Dublin

Meetup : Dublin, Ireland Meetup

1 Laoch 22 July 2012 01:52PM

Discussion article for the meetup : Dublin, Ireland Meetup

WHEN: 12 August 2012 03:00:28PM (+0100)

WHERE: College Green

For anybody in Ireland, more specifically in Dublin, interested in meeting up. College Green Starbucks beside the wax museum. This has been postponed a week.

Discussion article for the meetup : Dublin, Ireland Meetup

Facebook worries me.

-8 Laoch 22 June 2012 09:50AM

This article let's me know I'm not the only one concerned at the dominance of companies like Google and Facebook. I don't have enough data or information to judge whether my continued use of these services are going to be detrimental to me or the rest of humanity. What I do know is that increasingly I'm feeling like Facebook and Google know too much about me and have too much of my attention. I feel a little bit like a puppet, a little bit strung along. How do others here feel?

It reminds me or is analogous to this. In my opinion the food industry having a monopoly on what we eat, just as Google and Facebook will have a monopoly web content. Is this a risk on society?