How random is life?

[noname223]

I have asked me this question recently. I am ambivalent on it. I think it is pretty random where you are born. The society you live in is completely coincidental. And the society you live in will shape you a lot. Your genes are random. It is extremely unlikely that we come into existence in the first place. (when we think about the myriads of sperms etc.) We cannot really influence how our parents treat us when we are in a very young age. I was exposed to abuse and I barely could do anything about it.

There are a lot of things we cannot really influence. Due to the fact that I am a control freak I really dislike that.
Though I am opposed to fatalism or hard determinism. I try to fight as good as I can. I try to make the best out of my situation as good as I can despite the fact my chances of success are pretty small. I try different heuristics to evaluate which path has the best chances of success.

I talked with a lot of professionals, read literature and statistics about my illness. I also have done a lot of mistakes. Especially when my mania deceived my mind. Also sometimes my mind was deceived by my depressions.
But I am more or less happy about the path which I have taken during the 3 years. I think my life will still end with a catastrophe but I could prevent the worst at least for the moment. Some of my decisions were quite dangerous. But I have handled several emergencies during the last 3 years in a good way.

I am really scared about the future. I am scared that the worst is yet to come. I imagine all the cynical developments which are currently in progress in my life which I barely can influence.

Okay this was a little bit off-topic. I wanted to emphasize with that that life is not completely random in my opinion. There are things we can influence. But it is very difficult to make the best decisions. If I have to make an important decision I often procrastinate it. I fear horrible consequences. But at least I could escape the psychosomatic pain. This is one of my biggest accomplishments.

I often try to play it safe. But my insecurities eat me alive.

What is your philosophy? How random is life in your opinion?

 

[Superdeterminist]

Ultimately? I think it's as random as random gets. Even the fact that we have two eyes is just arbitrary. Why is everything just as it is and not another way? Or even the biggest question: why is there something rather than nothing? Sometimes we can seem to find explanations for phenomena within an evolutionary context, but there is a need for evolution itself to be explained in the grander context of the universe. In terms of what we can influence, I would say influence itself is random. Some people influence a lot, others next to nothing. What constitutes influence? It may be defined in different ways, but always it is due to factors beyond us.

There are certain recurring motifs that give life an appearance of regularity, but I think these are somewhat illusory. For example, overeating consistently causes one to become overweight. But this pattern of regularity lies atop a more fundamental layer that dictates which people will be compelled to overeat, and which will not. And THAT is random. Why am I not overweight? Sure, it's because I don't overeat. But why do I not overeat? "It's an infinite regress that always ends in darkness" as Sam Harris wisely put it.

 

[GentleJerk]

One hundred million sperm... And I was the fastest?

 

[whatevs]

Life is like new Random().next() in Java: pseudorandom. There's nothing "completely random" in the Universe, randomness is a cognitive antipattern, an irrational notion that can't be reproduced empirically. Everything that has happened had to happen from the beginning of time, including the emergence of life. It doesn't look random in the slightest.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

I actually think life is less random and more rigged in favor of certain negative situations in order to cause more suffering overall, at least towards some people like me.

 

[Tortured_empath]

Im not sure. There are curveballs. I got hit bad by one of them.