Half baked theories, lunch and such...

Earlier I shared a story about eagles and a blog about free will and pleasure units (PU). I actually had some thoughts related to both of these, um, things, that I was going to share. However, since most of my thoughts on abstracts, like theories, never come to a logical conclusion - I find it difficult to make final judgments on nebulous or unprovable ideas, no matter how sequacious the argument - I thought I'd combine my thoughts on decisions and animal instincts with some other of my disjointed and/or incoherent views, as they relate to human behavior.

How we make decisions?

Self-interest theory
I've thought for the last decade or so that all people are selfish. That any act, regardless of intent, is rooted in self-interest. This is similar to Scott's theory that people make decisions based on the amount of PUs that result from the decision or lack thereof, PUs being a measurement, so to speak, of self-interest. I could state examples (or perceived examples) until you were blue in the face, but there is no way that this theory could be proven, so I do a lot of wheel spinning those times I ponder this possibility.

Animal Instinct
This is a derivative of the self-interest theory that basically says instincts drive most of our decisions. This is similar to those studies that suggest things like sex (etc) are what motivates certain segments of the species. People being rational (for the most part, ex's being the obvious exception) beings are constantly battling instincts that drive us toward actions that may not be entirely rationale. The instinct for procreation being the easiest example and the one most studies use... Or maybe its just those studies on sex that I find interesting enough to recall. .. . Regardless, its a theory that is problematic when moving toward axiom or law.

Free Will

The idea that there is no such thing as free will is fundamentally difficult to accept. Scott's idea that any action we take is not determined by ourselves but by some external influence not religious in nature is, or seems, counter intuitive. I'm not sure if he is debating 'free will' as defined in the dictionary or not, but I imagine he was only using that definition to further prove his point that it doesn't exist. Or maybe he's saying no action is created in a vacuum, meaning, without cause and/or effect. Anywho, here are a couple of my thoughts...

Multiverse
People lots smarter than me have argued that for every decision we make, there exists a universe were a different decision was made and our consciousness would have traveled thru to that universe if we had made that decision (that is a poor and rough paraphrase) or there are multiple identical universes with an MJ (for example) in each that made a different decision, however slight, at some point, and we are all ignorant of the others existence. This sort of thing is big for Sci-Fi writers and has been the basis of many a movie, book or episode of Star Trek. This idea is fun to think about, you know, when one has time to ponder the what if of our pasts.

Fate
I've heard of those that feel that our lives are scripted and nothing we do can change our fated paths. This is popular for people that need to make an excuse for a particular bad turn or as forshadow to a particularly desired outcome, i.e., 'If its fated I'll do/have/own/buy/eat/etc .' Naturally, this is on the opposite spectrum of the free will thinkers, but ironically, I hear it a lot from religious people. I.e., if God wills I'll do/have/own/buy/eat/etc . Now, I don't particularly disagree with these people for having faith, as spirituality is important. However, faith is based on free will, I'd think, and if God outlines and defines are future, doesn't that sort of negate the whole free will thing, ergo negating the need for faith? I suppose one could look at the statement 'If God wills I'll....' and say its faith. Its an interesting theory of mine that I ponder often, perhaps one day I'll reach a conclusion with which I'm comfortable.

Attitude

One of my ideas I'm most sure of but less sure how to communicate is attitude, or how a person's outlook and interaction with others affects his or her life. ... TBC