Are You a Meat Machine?
November 28th, 2006 by Richard CockrumPeople find the strangest things to argue about. Sports teams, ice cream flavors, dark or light chocolate, free will.
Free will? Yes, free will. The concept of free will isn’t difficult. If free will exists, you have some freedom of choice in your actions. If free will doesn’t exist, all that you do is determined by biological or environmental factors. You’re a meat machine, a clockwork. You can’t help but do what you do.
There are many people who don’t think free will exists. There are many who do. They’ve been arguing about it for several thousand years now - sometimes in a religious context, sometimes in a scientific context, other times in a cultural context. You would think that after several thousands of years and several million discussions, often vehement discussions that may be better termed brawls, they would get the message that this is one of those things that cannot be answered.
If the question could be answered logically, it would have already been settled. If the question could be answered experimentally, it also would have been settled. We can’t even predict the actions of an amoeba with 100% accuracy, much less a person. The more complex an entity is, the harder it is to predict it’s actions. It becomes impossible to tell whether action is due to free will or conditioning.
I wouldn’t waste my time or space here if the belief that free will doesn’t exist wasn’t so destructive individually and culturally. The problem with not believing that free will exists relates to the locus of control. People can have an internal or an external locus of control. If you have an internal locus of control, you believe your thoughts and actions influence your environment. You have some control over your life. If you have an external locus of control, you believe outside circumstances control the events of your life, including your thoughts and emotions. Unsurprisingly, an internal locus of control is correlated with higher cultural and economic status and increased happiness, while an external locus of control is correlated with lower cultural and economic status. An external locus of control also correlates with increased depression and other emotional problems.
Culturally, the meat machiners have been in control for a long time. The results are pernicious. People feel victimized, meaningless, like cogs in the social machine. If you spend your life being told you are not responsible for your behavior, eventually many people believe it and act as if they are not. If you spend a lifetime being told you are responsible for your behavior, eventually many people believe it and act it. You have only to look within yourself and at your world to see the results.
An internal locus of control won’t automatically make you rich and attractive, but it will help you be happier, give your life meaning, and improve your chances of success in life, however you define success. An external locus of control won’t automatically make you poor and ugly, but it will make you a victim, take the meaning from life, and decrease your chances of success in life.
Which do you prefer? Beliefe in free will and increased happiness and meaning, or belief in the meat machine and decreased happiness and meaning.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Del.icio.us
reddit
November 29th, 2006 at 7:33 am
Very well said, Rick.
Could it be possible a person has both internal locus of control and external locus of control?
For example, if one has 80% of ILOC and 20% of ELOC, he or she may still be very successful (mentally, finanically, physically and spiritually) in what he or she undertakes.
PS. The trackback above me is a spam blog. The minute after your post published, you’ll see the trackback. I wonder why your SK2 didn’t catch that.
November 29th, 2006 at 8:20 am
Hi Renée!
Is there an easy way to get the ‘é’ for your name, or do you have it memorized?
With the exception of the solipsists among us, I think most of us have some combination of the two.
The important thing for our emotional health and ability to take control of our lives is to have a majority ILOC. People with more of an ELOC attribute their circumstances and emotional experience to the system, luck, coincidence, just how they are, most of the time. People with more of an ILOC of control attribute their circumstances and emotional experiences to things they can affect and change most of the time. Either way there is still an interplay between yourself and your world, but with the majority ELOC you are a victim, while with the majority ILOC you are an actor.
Thank you for the heads-up on the other comment. SK gave it a positive karma and so passed it through. I blacklisted the site.
November 29th, 2006 at 9:16 am
That’s what I thought! There is no such thing as perfect day everyday, even how optimistic we want to be or how much ILOC we have.
The way I see it, having to experience a little of ELOC may do us some good if we can quickly identify the situation and get back on track. Having said, we almost must consider if that person has enough will power to divert his or her energy to the positive side–turn victim into actor as the way you put it.
About the ‘é’, if you referring if I need to type that character; no! It’s all cookied. If I need to use it on comment text, I just cope and paste from the cookies or my email signature. It doesn’t matter to me, if someone ignore the accent (on text) but I do get a little agitated if they mispronounced my name–Re ne. It’s getting much better now, but when I was in primary school, many nuns (some are Irish) had to struggle a bit to get it right. I hope I had answered to your question?
November 29th, 2006 at 9:54 am
Renee, your point about having the will power to divert ELOC to ILOC is a good one. From experience, the switch has to be conscious and deliberate. However, once made, ILOC is a much happier and easier way to live.
Carolyn
November 29th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
I love it when people make things easy on us. Thank you, Renee!
It does takes conscious, deliberate practice if you’ve been taught to have an ELOC. It’s like learning to ride a bicycle. You practice and practice, wobbling all over and falling off on a regular basis, sometimes bonking your head on the fence post, until one day things just click, and you’re riding straight thinking “This is easy! Why did I ever think it was hard?” That doesn’t mean things won’t happen to throw you off balance, but in the main it’s your habitual mindset.