Against our will

Against our will

We can’t be forced to do anything. Coerced blackmailed and cajoled maybe, but never really forced. Even with a gun to your head you can opt to die, call their bluff or obfuscate the situation. Cooperation is promoted with narcotics but that merely reduces your ability to show your objection rather than get you onside. Soldiers will be given training to be non-complicit. If an interrogator asks them to hand them something, they will toss the item on the floor instead.

Having the belief that we choose our own destiny is meaningful. What we can and cannot do depends strictly on what possibilities are available. First and foremost, you need to be aware of the options that exist. Hence why so much effort is made regarding the provision of education to expand people’s outlook. Most objectives of any consequence require step by step assemblage of smaller components. Having the will to start and tackle each element is indispensable.

It would be nice to think that the time and diligence making decisions are correlated to the impact. Someone buying a house does not take 10000+ times longer selecting a property than what toppings to have on a pizza. More time and more research but less than the square root of the exertion in relation to the money at stake. We have seen wars with huge losses on both sides. Leaders who commit troops to battle will once again analyse disproportionally small amounts in relation to the potential consequence of the decision. It is an aspect of being a human not a failure. If you think free will and determinism is a complex difficult subject, you may not realise or accept that choices are made by ludicrously simple processes.

More choice can mean more time and worry deciding which is the most suitable. If the bread on offer is just either white or brown it is easier to make your mind up than if there are 44 types. We find ourselves weighing up the pros and cons of price, value, texture, taste, health factors, image, and a myriad of other innuendoes. Subtle differences, silly gimmicks work for they hook into our pre-existing fretworks – those on a budget, those looking to eat more healthily, those that crave daft toys.