I’ve discussed before that the universe began with the Big Bang. A type of explosion. Which means that how the universe developed depended on the amount of energy, its force, the temperature, and what kind of particles were emitted. In other words, if there had been a different amount of energy, one would expect a different universe. Which means one could potentially argue that it was already determined that the universe would take the shape it did right after the Big Bang, as soon as it was born.
I also mentioned before that if the value of the elementary charge that determines the strength of electromagnetism, and the coupling constant that determines the strength of the strong atomic force that holds together protons and neutrons, had been slightly different from what they are now, humans may not have been born. Can’t we rephrase that and say that this world was filled with the possibility of bringing about human life? This universe was filled with the potential to bring about stars and planets, and the potential to create the sun. If we put it a little more extremely, can’t we say that it was decided this would all happen? Was it not determined at the moment of the Big Bang that humans would come into being? I’d like to assume that this is true.
To advance this hypothesis, let’s talk a bit about biology. I want to think about the simplest of living things: single-celled organisms. I’d like to get to the root of the problem of free will by looking at these simple organisms.
For example, consider the paramecia. These single-celled creatures are used to living in water at a temperature of twenty-five degrees Celsius, so naturally they gather in areas that are twenty-five degrees. Of course, they all get there by moving this way and that, and only gradually assemble in those twenty-five-degree spots. And in a very animal way, some of them arrive late. If there were some food outside of that twenty-five-degree spot, the latecomers would benefit.
While the paramecia that are already in a spot that’s twenty-five degrees tend to stay there, even they constantly leave and return and leave again. And the more parameca there are in one spot, the more their movements seem independent. If there are only a few of them, there’s less individuality. The larger their number, the more slow ones there are, and the more they circle around showily. There’s more variety.
And the strange part about this is that it holds true even for bacteria with identical genes. Even though these simple creatures have perfectly identical genes, depending on the number in their group, their movements come to be more or less unique. In other words, the more these simple creatures gather together, the more volition they seem to have. And, on top of that, their volition also seems to increase the worse the conditions they live in get.
So what is the origin of these paramecia’s volition?
We know that it arises from the electric noise within their cells. When there is a large electric vacillation, their direction changes. And this electric noise comes from heat variation within their molecules. Molecules move because of heat. While these movements seem to be completely random and irregular, changes in the surrounding temperature and many other things cause the electricity to fluctuate, and then the paramecia suddenly start to move. In other words, the origin of their volition is heat variation within molecules. How scientific.
There is a very convincing explanation that we humans, who have advanced from paramecia to reach the peak of evolution, have a volitional process going on within us and cannot halt it. I also believe this is true. We don’t just respond to external stimuli by producing electrical noise and then reacting. Even if there is no external stimulus, advanced animals like humans can produce their own electrical noise and move their own bodies. The electrical noise we produce is the origin of consciousness.
Again, please remember that human consciousness cannot affect the brain.
In which case, what is free will? Do we have free will? The answer would be no. The origin of free will is the fluctuation of molecular heat. In other words, everything originates as a chemical reaction on the atomic level. Which means that from the time of the Big Bang, it was already decided that humans would come into existence. And if that’s true, our lives, what every human has done in all of our long, long history, all originated with fluctuations of molecular temperature. And if everything is simply the chemical workings of atoms, that would mean everything was already decided at the time of the Big Bang. But this must be wrong. Or, accurately speaking, it may be wrong.
Now we will need to talk about quantum mechanics.
14
Matsuo-san’s Lectures, III, Part 2
Quantum mechanics is, to greatly simplify, a theory that describes an incredibly tiny world that can’t be explained by traditional understandings of causality, namely classical physics. If you hit a billiard ball, we know it’ll follow a certain trajectory. That’s true. However, on the micro level, you often can’t simply explain things by saying that happened, so this will happen.
Let’s look at an example. Let’s say a proton and an atomic nucleus collide with a certain amount of energy. This doesn’t always lead to the same result. There is a certain chance that proton and nucleus will wind up in state X, and a certain chance they will wind up in state Z. We cannot find conditions under which the collision will lead only to state X. So we can only discuss the results in terms of probability. This means that we don’t always experience the more likely scenario, so adopting quantum theory means everything in this world becomes a matter of chance or probability. The current state of the world is the result of many coincidences.
To see “causality” in the motion of physical objects, first we must observe those objects. Unfortunately, it is incredibly difficult to observe electrons, for example, precisely. Even shining a light on particles as small as electrons causes them to move. Light is both a particle and a wave, and it basically kicks the electron out of place. A detailed explanation would be quite long, so I’ll be brief, but if one tries to confirm the position of an electron, its speed becomes unknown, and if one tries to confirm its speed, its position becomes unknown. We call this thing the “uncertainty principle.” And in this imprecise microworld, it is only natural that we cannot predict causation. We can say that physics’ principles of causality break down. We can only describe the objects of this world in terms of probabilities.
However, this is entirely a matter of human observation, and has nothing to do with the reality of these objects, I think. We need not consider everything based on the limited nature of human perception.
There was a famous debate between Bohr, who was a pioneer in quantum theory, and Einstein. Einstein criticized Bohr, saying something like, “God doesn’t play dice with the world. We must be able to explain nature more perfectly than by covering everything up with probabilities and odds. However, at the moment, humans cannot grasp this perfection, and we must use probabilities and statistics, as they are an effective tool to explain the world.”
Quantum theory is useful for describing the world, but it is just a tool. It would be silly to make it the foundation of our understanding of the world. Einstein claimed that nature is not controlled by vague sets of probability. There must be a definitive explanation of causation at the root of things. However, these days Einstein is generally considered to have lost this debate.
But who was actually right? The concepts of quantum theory cover a lot. The theory is enormous. According to these concepts, traveling back in time is possible, and—though it seems incredible—humans can even pass through walls. However, the probability of such an occurrence would be one divided by ten to a power so high that if you wrote three zeroes every centimeter, the number would be several hundred thousand light years long. In other words, it’s an absurd number. This theory is unmistakably incomplete.
I would like someone to appear and solve these mysteries for us. These problems don’t stop with physics. It would be quite interesting to combine them with theories of the brain. The brain is also made up of atoms, and if we could underst
and how cause and effect work in terms of atoms, we’d be able to understand everything about the brain. It would be the greatest discovery in human history—how everything is decided. In other words, we would have discovered fate. Love, work, even the most trivial-seeming of gestures would all ultimately become just like that billiard ball.
But we cannot make any definitive statements at this point in time. So we can only discuss things in terms of possibility.
First, we have the theory that the fate of everything is predetermined. This is the argument against quantum mechanics, that on the quantum level everything is undecided. In this scenario, we can still imagine a future where we’ve discovered the cause of everything. That would make us nothing more than the audience in the completely scripted show called Our Lives.
The second option we have is to rely completely on quantum theory. Everything in this world would boil down to probability and chance. This would mean believing that humans and this earth came into existence totally by chance. And that there’s no such thing as fate. In this second case, we are the audience to an unscripted show that is just a series of coincidences.
No, that is not quite accurate. There are limits to what sort of “coincidences” can come to be. Please remember that the universe was filled with the possibility of producing humans. Even if we suppose that the origin of human life was chance, the probability of it was not zero. To give a contrary example, the chance that now all of you listening to me speak will suddenly grow wings on your back is zero. In other words, the possibilities of this world are limited, and there’s no such thing as total randomness.
So, we are the audience watching a show called life that is a series of coincidences within certain limits. That would be more accurate.
So, which is correct? I believe that both are correct. In the end, they’re the same thing.
Everyone, please think about your past. From the time you were born until now, you’ve followed a single path here.
Someone with a deep knowledge of quantum theory would probably say that there are versions of you who have chosen each possible life, and you are nothing more than one of the possible yous. This world was created through human choices, and there are as many worlds as there are choices people have made.
But I don’t care at all about that sort of stupid argument. Saying that doesn’t make anyone feel better. It doesn’t change anything. Because the you of this world has followed a single path up to this moment.
And in the same way, I’m sure your future will follow a single path. At some point you will do this, and not do that, become this, and not become that. But those events become one path made up of the succession of choices that you made at those times, in those instants. That path will continue until you die. Nothing will change the fact that no matter what sort of choices you make, no matter what you do, when you turn around, those choices will form a single path. You cannot walk two separate paths, and you don’t need the burden of imagining you could. You should just follow your path.
Whether that path is already decided or is something you can change, in the end, it’s still one path. It’s decided. It’s fate. In the end, fate is nothing more than a human concept. Chance is also nothing more than a human concept. However, there’s no mistake. You are walking down a single path. I gave the example of paramecia before. Like them, we should just live our lives looking for a comfortable twenty-five-degree spot. However, on this path, humans must bear sadness. For we are the only beings that are clearly aware we will eventually die.
In other words, to be human is to be conscious of the fact that we will die, and to know that in this great, unceasing flow of atoms, we continue to travel along our single path for seventy or eighty years, and then vanish. If you believe that consciousness cannot act on the brain, then you are simply being presented with that path, being continually made to see that you will die. Human consciousness has grown highly complex. And because of that our pleasures are immense, as are our sadnesses. Our breadth of emotion is the greatest among all living things because of our high level of consciousness. But in the end we will die. Even though we’ve known such great pleasures in this world, we will die. Trillions of humans have died. Trillions more will probably die.
This world was always filled with the possibility of humans coming into being. And atoms have always had the power to create consciousness by joining together. This must mean something. As I’ve said before, I believe we are part of a gradient that includes other dimensions. It would be strange if we weren’t. This world is too perfect for it to all be coincidence. The path we walk cannot be unrelated to that gradient. And that gradient must be connected to countless stories.
Since ancient times, humans have had advanced consciousness and have continued to yearn for stories. We don’t just create gods; we also always create legends about them. You all watch television dramas and read manga, right? Even gossip about famous people is stories. Humans are the only animals on this earth that desire stories. Our lives are stories, and as we progress through those stories, we seek more stories. In other words, we exist amid overlapping stories. I believe the overlapping nature of these stories has something to do with the gradient. What’s important to these layers of other dimensions is not the actual movement of our bodies, what we speak, or see. I think what appears in our minds, how our consciousnesses work, is probably more important. Our consciousness is overlaid on those layers. We are staring at ourselves from those layers. And we are experiencing stories.
To rephrase this, humans are just stories that appear in that great, unceasing flow of atoms. And I wonder if we’re anything more than just the audience watching those stories from a different layer. I wonder if it is this strange balance between existing in this layer and another—this strange balance itself—which makes the world the way it is. Maybe there is something that desires our stories. But we had better live as if at some point there will be meaning. We must strengthen our bodies and pass through this single story, through this flow of atoms. That’s what it means to live.
This story is difficult. I don’t want to sound like I’m saying anything irresponsible or overly optimistic about life. But no matter what, we must pass through this story.
If we generalize, there are two different attitudes about life: one found in the East and one in the West. In the West many people think of this life as god’s test. People there live their lives thinking that when some difficulty arises, that is fate, and it is a test from god. God only gave you such a test because you can pass it. You could also just call it a test of fate, without using the word god. It is beautiful to see people challenge fate. I believe it is, at least.
In the East, people value the impermanence of all things. Everything returns to nothing. Everything eventually disappears, so there’s no need to worry about a difficult life. Suffering and sadness will eventually disappear as well. You must swallow your suffering and sadness, and wait for them to vanish into the peace. It is beautiful to see sadness and suffering disappear. I believe it is, at least.
There is no choosing which attitude is right. I feel that the truth is somewhere in between. You could also say that both are true. I think sometimes you must challenge fate, and other times you must wait for everything to vanish. Whether everything is decided or everything can be changed, you must be strong of will and choose the path that appears before you. You need that sort of attitude to keep going.
Everyone, please continue along your path and live through your story. Those countless atoms that have been here since the distant past—this highly refined, massive and complex system—everything is here for your story. The atoms currently giving your body shape will remain after your death. They will be here for someone else’s story.
The laws of physics, this system of countless flowing atoms, is an incredibly fertile and extravagant thing.
May you all find your comfortable, twenty-five-degree spot. That’s it for today.
/>
15
“Excuse me, leader.”
A man in white dragged a cart through the door.
The leader’s room on the twenty-first floor was about thirty square meters. The whole space was dimly lit, and in the back was a door that led to his bedroom. The leader watched the man pulling the cart with blank eyes. There was a box on the cart, and in that box, a bound woman.
“Here is the woman from the religious organization I told you about.”
The leader looked at the woman in the box expressionlessly. She was bound messily with layers of the kind of plastic rope used for packing. Is she too scared to scream? the man in white wondered.
“Mm,” the leader murmured nebulously. She was tall and beautiful—was he attracted to her? The man in white wasn’t sure. He began to worry.
“The religion this woman practices forbids sex. Also the excessive exposure of skin.”
The leader got up from his chair and looked down into the box. The woman was wearing a white blouse and a long black skirt.
“Of course masturbation is also forbidden.”
“I see. A cult.” The leader’s voice was monotone.
A cult? the man in white asked himself. Isn’t this a cult, too? No, we’re different. This isn’t a cult. This is . . . What is it? I haven’t trained enough. Recently, I’ve been led astray by strange thoughts. The man in white looked up and found the leader’s grave stare resting on him. His heart leaped. Did he see it? Did he see my doubt?
“If they have sex, will they die?” the leader asked suddenly. His eyes showed no sign that he cared about the man’s doubt.