Do
If consciousness possessed no agency, it would be a passive movie theater. "Do" represents the staggeringly complex intersection where an invisible brain state successfully commands the physical universe to rearrange itself.
How exactly does an invisible intention—a completely weightless, abstract thought floating in your mind—convert into the thermodynamic movement of physics in the real world?
Topics: consciousness, agency, will, art, creation
Do
Unknown Location
How exactly does an invisible intention—a completely weightless, abstract thought floating in your mind—convert into the thermodynamic movement of physics in the real world?
The Magic Trick
aise your hand. Decide that you want to move it, and then watch it move. It happens so constantly that you stop noticing the exact threshold where it occurs. How exactly does an invisible intention—a completely weightless, abstract thought floating in your mind—convert into the thermodynamic movement of physics in the real world?
The Disruption of Reality
Without agency, consciousness would simply be a passive movie theater, forced to sit and watch the physical universe happen. But if you possess the capability to grip the controls and push back, what does that mean? Every time you choose to speak or to act, you leave a physical scratch on reality that would not exist if you were not here. How much of the physical arrangement of your life is the direct result of your invisible intentions disrupting the universe?
The Burden of Choice
A rock rolling down a hill does not have to decide where it goes; gravity decides for it. But if you have agency, does that mean you are utterly responsible for the trajectory? The environment constantly hits you with information, but if you have the power to hit the environment back, can you ever truly be a victim, or are you always an active participant in what happens next?
