#determinism

It is impossible to trap modern physics into predicting anything with perfect determinism because it deals with probabilities from the outset. ↗

— Arthur Eddington

#because #deals #determinism #impossible #into

In one sense I feel that my book is a one-woman argument against determinism. ↗

— Susan Griffin

#argument #book #determinism #feel #i

Man is a masterpiece of creation if for no other reason than that, all the weight of evidence for determinism notwithstanding, he believes he has free will. ↗

— Georg C. Lichtenberg

#creation #determinism #evidence #free #free will

Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will. ↗

— Jawaharlal Nehru

#dealt #determinism #free #free will #game

The world changed from having the determinism of a clock to having the contingency of a pinball machine. ↗

— Heinz R. Pagels

#clock #contingency #determinism #having #machine

For anyone inclined to caricature environmental history as 'environmental determinism,' the contrasting histories of the Dominican Republic and Haiti provide a useful antidote. Yes, environmental problems do constrain human societies, but the societies' responses also make a difference. ↗

— Jared Diamond

#environment #environmental-determinism #history #societies #environmentalism

The idea of determinism combined with complete human responsibility struck me as very hard to reconcile with an idea of justice, let alone mercy. ↗

— Ken MacLeod

#combined #complete #determinism #hard #human

You can’t change the past. You can’t even change the future, in the sense that you can only change the present one moment at a time, stubbornly, until the future unwinds itself into the stories of our lives. ↗

— Larry Wall

#change #determinism #fatalism #free-will #change

Life calls the tune, we dance. ↗

— John Galsworthy

#determinism #fate #free #freedom #will

Losing a belief in free will has not made me fatalistic—in fact, it has increased my feelings of freedom. My hopes, fears, and neuroses seem less personal and indelible. There is no telling how much I might change in the future. Just as one wouldn’t draw a lasting conclusion about oneself on the basis of a brief experience of indigestion, one needn’t do so on the basis of how one has thought or behaved for vast stretches of time in the past. A creative change of inputs to the system—learning new skills, forming new relationships, adopting new habits of attention—may radically transform one’s life. ↗

— Sam Harris

#determinism #free-will #inspiration #philosophy #self-improvement