my take on much of modern philosophy

One of the things that has constantly befuddled me, is how the decision-making process works in our brain. How exactly is the ability to discern between right and wrong developed? How does our brain know what’s right and what’s wrong? And if I’m right we’re probably just slaves to an evolutionary trait.

Don your monocle, suit yourself up with the most expensive Prada you can find and arm yourself with a smug expression that would make your ancestors proud. We’re going to pretentious land, and this time we’re going in deep.

Free will is perhaps one of the most complicated areas of research in modern psychology, and I am but an uneducated swine. I do not have a degree in psychology nor do I have any qualifications in philosophy, so a fair warning: take my words with a grain of salt.

Charles Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, and in addition to having some of the most kick-ass verses in ERB’s matchup against Ash Ketchum, he was responsible for propounding the “Theory of Natural Selection”, which explains how genetic traits change over time relative to habitat and environment.

Some of you may know where I’m going with this, in essence, if the development of our brain is a genetic trait, then well the argument ends there: we’re at the mercy of the environment, both physically and mentally.

But it’s interesting to note, that people now aren’t any more intelligent than they were before, the standard model of the distribution of people concerning their Intelligence Quotient has remained the same with slight changes here and there. It was a bell curve and continues to remain so. While IQ is an imperfect metric for measuring intelligence, it is the only one we possess and serves a purpose for some form of evidence to the point I’m trying to make.

People aren’t any smarter than they were before, but the psyche behind making decisions has definitely evolved concerning changing time and circumstances. So do we chart the former to natural selection and the other to be a clandestine constant? Well, we could, but it’s fascinating that these two deeply intertwined processes have completely different origins and paths followed.

Intelligence is a whole another issue, one I haven’t thought enough about, and I am in no position to speak about. Perhaps, however, the psyche behind discerning right and wrong, the question I raised at the beginning of the passage, is more interesting to think about.

If what I’ve said is true and the ability to distinguish between what is black and what is white is a genetic trait, then that’s a whole new curveball to our existence. Everything we’ve ever done, all the opinions we’ve forged, the discussions we’ve had, everything is just a result of adaption.

Survival and sustenance, perhaps the only reasons why people have different opinions. Our morality is forged from circumstance, and our circumstance is forged primarily from geographical barriers and socio-political constraints borne as a result of that primary binding. The reason why everyone has a different perspective on life, or different opinions on issues affecting us, is all a result of their fragmented understanding of how best to survive: establishing a connection with humans. We were a social animal, we will continue to remain so.

Strength has an odd role to play in this, but it ties into the whole scope of how some people are non-confrontational or some people are malleable in their opinion, while some are as stubborn as the mule that assisted Shrek on his journey. It’s all essentially a by-product of establishing a connection with other human beings, who ironically are doing the very same.

Perhaps that’s enough for today. If we do indeed have no free will, I’m not really worried. The same force has led to us making memes and sub-1-minute youtube clips from 2010 which are in every sense the most hysterical things I’ve ever seen.

For now, farewell and if ever in doubt, there’s always the lad on YouTube who thought he was a bush.

~Lukshya