We all just want power and there is no free will

[Helena]

I've realized a couple things. First, that we all just want power, and second, there's no such thing as free will. These two statements are contradictory but I'll explain.

First, we all want power. You want it, I want it, your parents want it...
I study a lot. I study crazy physics, I study computers, i look for the most challenging topics and I try to learn it. I look at the people in my class, all we do is study this stuff. But not because we like it, we study it to prove to ourselves and others how we are not ignorant, or stupid, or uneducated, or whatever. We do this to impress others. I do i too. It's not that I don't like this stuff, but I study so much just to "be the best". I read The Economist so that I'll be educated in politics. At dinner parties, I know what to say, what to talk about.

I hear about some people finishing university in two years and it makes me jealous. I'm good at computers, even arrogant about it...I'm good for my age, and my gender. But I don't think I truly like computers...I hate programming, debugging, assembly language, the servers... I hate waiting for anything. But I do it because I like the power it gives me; that in the virtual world, I'm in control. I read about kid prodigies and I'm jealous.

You ever think you have so much going for yourself, and you realize that you really have nothing? There will always be someone you envy, someone who's better. And likewise, there will always be someone less, someone not as good as you; someone you might even look down on. But you like those people, you like the people who you can look down on. It's safe because you know you're better. You hate the people who are smarter than you, the one's who are better because they dismiss you. They ignore you. And this is a cycle. You want to be the best, you want to win, and when you can't win or when you know you're going to lose you don't want to admit it. Or at least, that is how I am. I am a pseudo-intellect, living in my own little world of delusional arrogance, false self-confidence... and I say it now, as if I recognize it but truly I don't. I don' t believe really believe what I'm telling you now.


Second, there is no free will.
Screw what religion teaches you or what they teach you in school about humans being primates and humans having the ability to "reason". Yes, we can reason but what is that reason based on? It's based on what we know. And how do we know what we know, we know it because someone told us, or we learned it through experience.

Everybody you meet in life whether you like them or you don't, influenced you in some way. They influenced you to think in a certain way. Your experiences influenced you too.

Example: I am faced with some choices about what I want to do with my time right now. Technically, the future is 'not written in stone' and it can change so therefore, my choices are unlimited. But this is not the case. If you knew me, you'd probably know that I hate "hanging out" with people, and that I'm obsessed with computers. Knowing these two, you can conclude that I will be on the computer...and I am. So my choice for what I will do with my time, is to go on the computer.

You think you have a choice, but you do not. The choice you make is based on the books you've read, the t.v shows you have watched, the friends you made, the enemies you made, stupid quotes you've heard, experiences you remember.

You are a rock thrown into a lake. Everybody is thrown into the same damn lake and our ripples reach each other.

Anyway, my rant is over. Thanks for listening. I know it's long. I know you probably think I'm an asshole too. That's ok.

[Harry Smith]

You can look at life from this rather bleak position, or you can simply grab it by the horns and say 'fuck it'. You'll drive yourself crazy thinking about this, just breathe. Yes there will be someone better than you, will that person be truly happy in life?... no. Just try and make the most from what you've got.

From the sound of it you don't really enjoy the technical sides of computers,it sounds like it's repressing you. Find another passion- something that isn't academic. Something that allows you just to relax and enjoy life. Break this cycle your stuck in by just trying something new, talk to that person you ignore, try something new for lunch.

Academia is not every thing , just like power is not everything. Nothing in life will provide you with everything. It's just about grabbing that small piece of happiness and making it your own. ( Also don't suppose you could make my day and make the text a tad smaller?)

[naglfari]

massive eyeroll

[Sir Suomi]

http://meremortalblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/mind-blown.jpg?w=412

[xmojox]

I don't give a fuck about power. I wanna be happy. And if free-will exists or doesn't, and I've read compelling arguments against it, it really doesn't matter because It changes absolutely nothing.

[Bethany]

This is a really interesting perspective.

I disagree with your opinions on free will, though. I may not be able to choose some of the things that affect me - who my family is, what era I live in, where I live - but I can choose how I let these things affect my future. I don't live in the wealthy kind of area where people go on to do great things or even leave to go to college, but I choose to do unique things in unique places despite the odds. I can't choose what current events happen around me, but I can choose how I react to them or how they change my perspective on things such as foreign policy. The TV shows I watch and music I listen to affect me only as much as I let them. As humans, our reasoning skills enable us to sort the information we are exposed to and determine what we want to do with it, how we want to let it affect us.

If that makes ANY sense at all, haha, I'm exhausted.

[Jean Poutine]

[SIZE="4"]I've realized a couple things. First, that we all just want power, and second, there's no such thing as free will. These two statements are contradictory but I'll explain.

I...see.

First, we all want power. You want it, I want it, your parents want it...
I study a lot. I study crazy physics, I study computers, i look for the most challenging topics and I try to learn it. I look at the people in my class, all we do is study this stuff. But not because we like it, we study it to prove to ourselves and others how we are not ignorant, or stupid, or uneducated, or whatever. We do this to impress others. I do i too. It's not that I don't like this stuff, but I study so much just to "be the best". I read The Economist so that I'll be educated in politics. At dinner parties, I know what to say, what to talk about.

I don't know about you, but I study law because I like law. If I wanted power I'd be a doctor, because choosing between life and death, in real time, THAT is the ultimate power anyone can have over anybody. I don't care that I'm probably going to be miserable for 10 years before attaining the status every other white collar worker gets straight out of school. I'm studying to be a glorified rubber-stamping paper pusher.

Studying to impress others...that's your motivation and your motivation alone. The only power I wish for is over myself.

I hear about some people finishing university in two years and it makes me jealous. I'm good at computers, even arrogant about it...I'm good for my age, and my gender. But I don't think I truly like computers...I hate programming, debugging, assembly language, the servers... I hate waiting for anything. But I do it because I like the power it gives me; that in the virtual world, I'm in control. I read about kid prodigies and I'm jealous.

Again, those are your motivations alone.

You ever think you have so much going for yourself, and you realize that you really have nothing? There will always be someone you envy, someone who's better.

Welcome to life.

And likewise, there will always be someone less, someone not as good as you; someone you might even look down on. But you like those people, you like the people who you can look down on. It's safe because you know you're better. You hate the people who are smarter than you, the one's who are better because they dismiss you. They ignore you.

You are obviously writing out of very negative personal experiences, and not at all objectively. Further, I still fail to understand why you attempt to paint your own desires and goals onto the whole of humankind.

People will always be better than you. That's life. I hang with the best because I want to be the best. The best have never ignored me, have never belittled me. They have taught me and made me a better person than I could ever be, even as they show me how little I know sometimes, I do not hate them. The truly great have no need to stomp on you to feel better about themselves. The truly great will teach you until you surpass them, and draw pride from the fact they allowed you to develop your potential to such a high level.

I have no time or desire to look down upon those who are objectively below me, whatever the scale. They are people and I appreciate their friendship as such, and I am confident enough in my abilities to have no need of ego-stroking. For some, I am who others are for me - I am "that" best, that ideal to attain, and I do try, without belittlement, to take them as high as they care to go.

And this is a cycle. You want to be the best, you want to win, and when you can't win or when you know you're going to lose you don't want to admit it. Or at least, that is how I am.

Yeah, that is all on you, sis.

I am a pseudo-intellect, living in my own little world of delusional arrogance, false self-confidence... and I say it now, as if I recognize it but truly I don't. I don' t believe really believe what I'm telling you now.

You said it, not me.

Second, there is no free will.
Screw what religion teaches you or what they teach you in school about humans being primates and humans having the ability to "reason". Yes, we can reason but what is that reason based on? It's based on what we know. And how do we know what we know, we know it because someone told us, or we learned it through experience.

No argument there.

Example: I am faced with some choices about what I want to do with my time right now. Technically, the future is 'not written in stone' and it can change so therefore, my choices are unlimited. But this is not the case. If you knew me, you'd probably know that I hate "hanging out" with people, and that I'm obsessed with computers. Knowing these two, you can conclude that I will be on the computer...and I am. So my choice for what I will do with my time, is to go on the computer.

You think you have a choice, but you do not. The choice you make is based on the books you've read, the t.v shows you have watched, the friends you made, the enemies you made, stupid quotes you've heard, experiences you remember.

No. A hundred times no.

The choices are still there. It is your inability to seize them that is the problem. You have no free will because you deliberately summarize yourself for easy reference in the manner of "I'm a geek and hate people, so I will be on the computer". To be clearer, you have no free will because YOU choose not to make use of it.

Fuck. That. People are more complex than a set of likes and dislikes.

Past experiences condition you to an extent but it is entirely reptilian to say that we are entirely shaped by our experiences. What makes us evolved is that we have the ability to beat these past experiences, to say "sod it - let's give it a go again" and end up with a completely different result. What makes humankind possess free will is exactly this capability to defeat our conditioning if we so choose. Drop a cat in a tub of scalding hot water and it will avoid any tub of water. We are better than this, we know better than this.

I used to be like you once. I made a conscious effort to seek out people and seek out physical activity even when my life has conditioned me to believe I'm terrible at both. I consciously chose not to limit myself to my past experiences. Now, if you ask me what I'm doing, a good amount of the time, the answer will be "socializing", "lifting" or "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu/Judo". THAT is free will, the ability to change on a dime if you so wish.

You are a rock thrown into a lake. Everybody is thrown into the same damn lake and our ripples reach each other.

This is an apt description of the ebb and flow of social relationships as a whole, not so much what you are trying to convey, though.

[Cygnus]

In a room sit three great men, a king, a priest, and a rich man with his gold. Between them stands a sellsword, a little man of common birth and no great mind. Each of the great ones bids him slay the other two. ‘Do it,’ says the king, ‘for I am your lawful ruler.’ ‘Do it,’ says the priest, ‘for I command you in the names of the gods.’ ‘Do it,’ says the rich man, ‘and all this gold shall be yours.’ So tell me—who lives and who dies?

Power is something that we invent, it does not exist, we humans give it to others or make it seem like they have it.

[Kuurachan]

Why do you say EVERYBODY wants power? Sure, there may be many people who do want just power, but still it`s only one thing a person could want. For me, I`d rather lay under the moonlight in the grass and let somebody have all the power, but at the same time I want power because I see so many people who actually have a lot of power using it in a terrible way or using it to their own advantage. I know that everything person does makes a difference. Even going outside will effect the planet in some way and change our mind either for the better or for the worst. I don`t get why you say there is no free will. If there wasn`t, you couldn't eat when you wanted to or dress the way you decided. You can do what you want, and people are the only ones who might stand in your way. If you think you didn`t accomplish anything after doing something great and having a lot in life, just look for another goal. There is no such thing as a person without wishes and there is always something you will want from another person, like youth, beauty, ect. I don`t CARE what other people think of me. I`m not on anybody`s side, I`m just ME. I am like no other, therefore if I wanted to act like I was evil, people might think I was or judge me, but they really can`t do anything. They can take things from me, but I`'ll always have my own life, memories and ultimately, my own world. I don`t need a ton of friends or a lot of money, I don`t need people to understand me, because that would be impossible, all I need is to believe in myself then watch as I become something nobody could have ever imagined.

[Helena]

I...see.



I don't know about you, but I study law because I like law. If I wanted power I'd be a doctor, because choosing between life and death, in real time, THAT is the ultimate power anyone can have over anybody. I don't care that I'm probably going to be miserable for 10 years before attaining the status every other white collar worker gets straight out of school. I'm studying to be a glorified rubber-stamping paper pusher.

Studying to impress others...that's your motivation and your motivation alone. The only power I wish for is over myself.



Again, those are your motivations alone.



Welcome to life.



You are obviously writing out of very negative personal experiences, and not at all objectively. Further, I still fail to understand why you attempt to paint your own desires and goals onto the whole of humankind.

People will always be better than you. That's life. I hang with the best because I want to be the best. The best have never ignored me, have never belittled me. They have taught me and made me a better person than I could ever be, even as they show me how little I know sometimes, I do not hate them. The truly great have no need to stomp on you to feel better about themselves. The truly great will teach you until you surpass them, and draw pride from the fact they allowed you to develop your potential to such a high level.

I have no time or desire to look down upon those who are objectively below me, whatever the scale. They are people and I appreciate their friendship as such, and I am confident enough in my abilities to have no need of ego-stroking. For some, I am who others are for me - I am "that" best, that ideal to attain, and I do try, without belittlement, to take them as high as they care to go.



Yeah, that is all on you, sis.



You said it, not me.



No argument there.



No. A hundred times no.

The choices are still there. It is your inability to seize them that is the problem. You have no free will because you deliberately summarize yourself for easy reference in the manner of "I'm a geek and hate people, so I will be on the computer". To be clearer, you have no free will because YOU choose not to make use of it.

Fuck. That. People are more complex than a set of likes and dislikes.

Past experiences condition you to an extent but it is entirely reptilian to say that we are entirely shaped by our experiences. What makes us evolved is that we have the ability to beat these past experiences, to say "sod it - let's give it a go again" and end up with a completely different result. What makes humankind possess free will is exactly this capability to defeat our conditioning if we so choose. Drop a cat in a tub of scalding hot water and it will avoid any tub of water. We are better than this, we know better than this.

I used to be like you once. I made a conscious effort to seek out people and seek out physical activity even when my life has conditioned me to believe I'm terrible at both. I consciously chose not to limit myself to my past experiences. Now, if you ask me what I'm doing, a good amount of the time, the answer will be "socializing", "lifting" or "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu/Judo". THAT is free will, the ability to change on a dime if you so wish.



This is an apt description of the ebb and flow of social relationships as a whole, not so much what you are trying to convey, though.

Lol, thanks for proving my theory true. If you are studying to be lawyer, you make a poor one.

[Ryhanna]

Lol, thanks for proving my theory true. If you are studying to be lawyer, you make a poor one.

Rude.

There are certainly a lot of generalisations in your post, and that bothers me. It all seems to based on your perception of your goals, and assuming that everyone wants the same things that you do. That's all I really have to say, because I can't take this seriously because of that. Sorry. :)

[Helena]

Rude.

There are certainly a lot of generalisations in your post, and that bothers me. It all seems to based on your perception of your goals, and assuming that everyone wants the same things that you do. That's all I really have to say, because I can't take this seriously because of that. Sorry. :)


I just don't like being judged. I doubt you do either. It doesn't matter to me whether you take this seriously or not. I was saying my beliefs on a matter. I don't know you.

[Ryhanna]

I just don't like being judged. I doubt you do either. It doesn't matter to me whether you take this seriously or not. I was saying my beliefs on a matter. I don't know you.

May I suggest posting threads like these in The White Padded Room, then? Ramblings of the Wise is a debate section, so you're going to have people nitpicking. ;)

[Sugaree]

Thanks for telling me what I want out of life. Brb, killing myself so I'm not power hungry anymore. Oh wait, no freewill to do that.

[Aves]

Lol, thanks for proving my theory true. If you are studying to be lawyer, you make a poor one.

If you're looking to have power, you have ruined all chances. You know how people get to positions of power? Through simple people skills. You, ma'am, have proven that you are nothing more than a child who can't take any form of criticism and counter argument.

I cannot even begin to explain how wrong you're view on life is. The way you view it, there is nothing more to life than being the best. Well, here's a secret, you never will be. Accept it and be happy with who you are. If you only strive to better than everybody else, enjoy your life of despair. It won't happen. You will never be the best. No one can be the best. Ever.

And we do have free will. Whether you want to believe it or not. You said that everyone we meet changes our life, well, there's always options of how you can let them influence you. You have that choice. Free will exists.

Thank you, and please, don't be an ass in response to someone who simply responded to your extremely one sided post.

[Jean Poutine]

Lol, thanks for proving my theory true. If you are studying to be lawyer, you make a poor one.

You gotta have terribly low self-esteem to react this way to perfectly valid criticism. I actually feel kinda sorry for you.

PS : being a lawyer has precious little to do with arguing.

[Harry Smith]

Lol, thanks for proving my theory true. If you are studying to be lawyer, you make a poor one.

What do you expect when you post in ROTW, your first post sounded very arrogant, you claim to be an intellect but you can't take any criticism

[Helena]

May I suggest posting threads like these in The White Padded Room, then? Ramblings of the Wise is a debate section, so you're going to have people nitpicking. ;) ok.

Well actually, I thought people would be nitpicking the actual topic and not at the quality of person I am. So therefore, I nitpicked at the person you are.

If you're looking to have power, you have ruined all chances. You know how people get to positions of power? Through simple people skills. You, ma'am, have proven that you are nothing more than a child who can't take any form of criticism and counter argument.

I cannot even begin to explain how wrong you're view on life is. The way you view it, there is nothing more to life than being the best. Well, here's a secret, you never will be. Accept it and be happy with who you are. If you only strive to better than everybody else, enjoy your life of despair. It won't happen. You will never be the best. No one can be the best. Ever.

And we do have free will. Whether you want to believe it or not. You said that everyone we meet changes our life, well, there's always options of how you can let them influence you. You have that choice. Free will exists.

Thank you, and please, don't be an ass in response to someone who simply responded to your extremely one sided post.

Then don't explain. Did you even read it? I admit that I'm not the best, that I never will be.

You gotta have terribly low self-esteem to react this way to perfectly valid criticism. I actually feel kinda sorry for you.

PS : being a lawyer has precious little to do with arguing.

If you read the original post, you'd probably would have already concluded that I have low self-esteem.

Not really. Being a lawyer is a play on words. Being a lawyer has nothing to do with what is "right" and what is "wrong". It is about how you can make the law help you. It is finding loopholes in arguments. (Ex: Miller vs US...ban on sawed-off shotguns was ruled constitutional because you wouldn't use sawed-off shotguns in the militia. So yes, being a lawyer is arguing.

What do you expect when you post in ROTW, your first post sounded very arrogant, you claim to be an intellect but you can't take any criticism
I did not claim to be an "intellect". I called myself a "pseudo-intellectual" which means I'm "fake" smart; that I pretend to be smart but I'm not. I appear smart, but I'm really not smart at all. In no way, did I think i was better than anyone. I know I am nothing.

[Jean Poutine]

If you read the original post, you'd probably would have already concluded that I have low self-esteem.

Not really. Being a lawyer is a play on words. Being a lawyer has nothing to do with what is "right" and what is "wrong". It is about how you can make the law help you. It is finding loopholes in arguments. (Ex: Miller vs US...ban on sawed-off shotguns was ruled constitutional because you wouldn't use sawed-off shotguns in the militia. So yes, being a lawyer is arguing.

Being a lawyer is being a paper pusher. It is about signing many papers and doing lots of research and reading many useless documents. Few lawyers "argue" at all.

[Apollo.]

I've realized a couple things. First, that we all just want power, and second, there's no such thing as free will. These two statements are contradictory but I'll explain.

First, we all want power. You want it, I want it, your parents want it...
I study a lot. I study crazy physics, I study computers, i look for the most challenging topics and I try to learn it. I look at the people in my class, all we do is study this stuff. But not because we like it, we study it to prove to ourselves and others how we are not ignorant, or stupid, or uneducated, or whatever. We do this to impress others. I do i too. It's not that I don't like this stuff, but I study so much just to "be the best". I read The Economist so that I'll be educated in politics. At dinner parties, I know what to say, what to talk about.

I hear about some people finishing university in two years and it makes me jealous. I'm good at computers, even arrogant about it...I'm good for my age, and my gender. But I don't think I truly like computers...I hate programming, debugging, assembly language, the servers... I hate waiting for anything. But I do it because I like the power it gives me; that in the virtual world, I'm in control. I read about kid prodigies and I'm jealous.

You ever think you have so much going for yourself, and you realize that you really have nothing? There will always be someone you envy, someone who's better. And likewise, there will always be someone less, someone not as good as you; someone you might even look down on. But you like those people, you like the people who you can look down on. It's safe because you know you're better. You hate the people who are smarter than you, the one's who are better because they dismiss you. They ignore you. And this is a cycle. You want to be the best, you want to win, and when you can't win or when you know you're going to lose you don't want to admit it. Or at least, that is how I am. I am a pseudo-intellect, living in my own little world of delusional arrogance, false self-confidence... and I say it now, as if I recognize it but truly I don't. I don' t believe really believe what I'm telling you now.


Second, there is no free will.
Screw what religion teaches you or what they teach you in school about humans being primates and humans having the ability to "reason". Yes, we can reason but what is that reason based on? It's based on what we know. And how do we know what we know, we know it because someone told us, or we learned it through experience.

Everybody you meet in life whether you like them or you don't, influenced you in some way. They influenced you to think in a certain way. Your experiences influenced you too.

Example: I am faced with some choices about what I want to do with my time right now. Technically, the future is 'not written in stone' and it can change so therefore, my choices are unlimited. But this is not the case. If you knew me, you'd probably know that I hate "hanging out" with people, and that I'm obsessed with computers. Knowing these two, you can conclude that I will be on the computer...and I am. So my choice for what I will do with my time, is to go on the computer.

You think you have a choice, but you do not. The choice you make is based on the books you've read, the t.v shows you have watched, the friends you made, the enemies you made, stupid quotes you've heard, experiences you remember.

You are a rock thrown into a lake. Everybody is thrown into the same damn lake and our ripples reach each other.

Anyway, my rant is over. Thanks for listening. I know it's long. I know you probably think I'm an asshole too. That's ok.


Ok so all I got from that is that you are a spooky fucker.

Of course people have a choice what they do, no I don't want power I want love, you see you have a funky argument but it's only relevant to you

[xmojox]

I can't believe people are still arguing this. The original post began with a broad generalisation and an opinion. What is there to argue? To say that all anyone wants is power is obviously untrue, and, if I may, not a terribly healthy view to take. The existence of free-will can be argued, but the arguments given were opinion, so, again, nothing to argue.

[Harry Smith]

I did not claim to be an "intellect". I called myself a "pseudo-intellectual" which means I'm "fake" smart; that I pretend to be smart but I'm not. I appear smart, but I'm really not smart at all. In no way, did I think i was better than anyone. I know I am nothing.

Well done... I really don't see the post of your post, where you hoping for pity?

[Sph2015]

You, sir, are a tool.

[Helena]

Well done... I really don't see the post of your post, where you hoping for pity?

The point of the original post? I was just saying something that I have been thinking of for a while.

[randomnessqueen]

i dont want power, i dont believe that one can have power. when people think they have power it is a social and material delusion.
i for the most part agree with predeterminism, but i think free will is able to coexist with that.

[freitag]

I...see.



I don't know about you, but I study law because I like law. If I wanted power I'd be a doctor, because choosing between life and death, in real time, THAT is the ultimate power anyone can have over anybody. I don't care that I'm probably going to be miserable for 10 years before attaining the status every other white collar worker gets straight out of school. I'm studying to be a glorified rubber-stamping paper pusher.

Studying to impress others...that's your motivation and your motivation alone. The only power I wish for is over myself.



Again, those are your motivations alone.



Welcome to life.



You are obviously writing out of very negative personal experiences, and not at all objectively. Further, I still fail to understand why you attempt to paint your own desires and goals onto the whole of humankind.

People will always be better than you. That's life. I hang with the best because I want to be the best. The best have never ignored me, have never belittled me. They have taught me and made me a better person than I could ever be, even as they show me how little I know sometimes, I do not hate them. The truly great have no need to stomp on you to feel better about themselves. The truly great will teach you until you surpass them, and draw pride from the fact they allowed you to develop your potential to such a high level.

I have no time or desire to look down upon those who are objectively below me, whatever the scale. They are people and I appreciate their friendship as such, and I am confident enough in my abilities to have no need of ego-stroking. For some, I am who others are for me - I am "that" best, that ideal to attain, and I do try, without belittlement, to take them as high as they care to go.



Yeah, that is all on you, sis.



You said it, not me.



No argument there.



No. A hundred times no.

The choices are still there. It is your inability to seize them that is the problem. You have no free will because you deliberately summarize yourself for easy reference in the manner of "I'm a geek and hate people, so I will be on the computer". To be clearer, you have no free will because YOU choose not to make use of it.

Fuck. That. People are more complex than a set of likes and dislikes.

Past experiences condition you to an extent but it is entirely reptilian to say that we are entirely shaped by our experiences. What makes us evolved is that we have the ability to beat these past experiences, to say "sod it - let's give it a go again" and end up with a completely different result. What makes humankind possess free will is exactly this capability to defeat our conditioning if we so choose. Drop a cat in a tub of scalding hot water and it will avoid any tub of water. We are better than this, we know better than this.

I used to be like you once. I made a conscious effort to seek out people and seek out physical activity even when my life has conditioned me to believe I'm terrible at both. I consciously chose not to limit myself to my past experiences. Now, if you ask me what I'm doing, a good amount of the time, the answer will be "socializing", "lifting" or "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu/Judo". THAT is free will, the ability to change on a dime if you so wish.



This is an apt description of the ebb and flow of social relationships as a whole, not so much what you are trying to convey, though.


Hey,
I want to apologise for what I said to you. It was completely unnecessary and uncalled for and I don't have an excuses for what I said. I dunno why I said it but I'm sorry and I apologise for saying it even though I doubt you really care for my apology.

I never fully replied to your post. Frankly, I did not even read it. But I read it now, and so I'll reply now.

I don't agree with you about life having choices. I think we are bound by certain events; that one thing causes another. The universe is a domino effect of events that crashes into other events. We are events ourselves and we crash into other events thus continuing the domino effect. We don't really have a choice in what crashes into us, we just fall and crash into others.
As for the part about wanting power, I still believe people want power...if not power, then people have expectations. And this is what causes unhappiness. I figured that, happiness is reality divided by expectations (in which expectations could never be 0). Power is kind of like that. Power of knowledge, power over oneself, power over another. I agree with you when you said that it is doctors who truly have power. But in a way, I think that everybody does have power and pursues it because power is control and it is in the nature of all beings to want control. Control is a way to survive because it gives us an advantage. (We survive because we can control temperature changes...in a sense, we have power over temperature changes). All creatures want to live. By "live", i think that to be happy is to be alive (at least for humans). Sad people die so I think that one has to be happy to live. Some creatures are happy because they live but humans live because they are happy. So therefore, i think that the meaning of humanity is not the pursuit of power, but more like the pursuit of happiness/life.

I will probably be banned after I post this. In any case, I doubt I'll be back. My e-mail (open to any person who decides to read this post) is :
So if you plan to reply, reply to that or I will not see it.

[MrMundane]

Power is nothing and everything, like religion, it shapes the world and bends it but only to the will of those few who understand what power is and why it is not important.

As for free will, yes and no. If you view free will from the perspective of the universe then it does not exist and we are simply acting out all possiblities that will eventually reach one major conclusion. If we choose to view humanity as important than yes there is free will. Time itself creates free will because we don't have enough time to do everything.