On Choices
China’s education belongs to atheism, believing in science
But science cannot currently explain where consciousness comes from. Is it just the activity of the brain matter? Why do other animals not have willpower, only humans do? Can willpower exist independent of matter? Is everything merely empty once we die? Then why did we come here in the first place?
Reality is cruel. If we use depth-first search, the prerequisite is the “God mode.” Otherwise, we often end up in a mess and don’t have the chance to start over due to the arrow of time.
Reading, learning, gaining more information, and then using a breadth-first approach
But first, we need to determine our purpose, ask ourselves honestly, what does our soul truly desire? In the book “Dialogues with God,” it says,
The soul, body, and brain are separate, and the soul exists independently from the other two. All suffering arises from the inconsistency of their purposes.
I think what is referred to as the soul here, is actually free will.
Free Will
I’m actually more curious about the issue of free will. If Everett’s parallel universe hypothesis is true, then free will is just a joke because no matter what choice you make, at the moment of your choice, the world splits into two, meaning there was no actual choice. Even birth and death are like this; there is no difference on a macro scale.
However, for individuals, choices are indeed made. Here is a quote:
“Why do we like flipping coins? Because in that moment when it’s tossed into the air, the answer has already become apparent.” Aside from obvious authoritative answers, most of the time the answer lies within ourselves. It’s just that our body, mind, and experience aren’t powerful enough yet to follow our heart without reason or perception.
I believe in free will. At least, after making a choice, the world continues for you, and your choices influence your journey in this world.
So, how do we make choices to achieve the best outcome?
Optimal Solution
The optimal solution is another question. What constitutes the best outcome? This is closely related to a person’s worldview, philosophy of life, and values.
On Tui Mo, there is an article: “Nine Steps to Determine Your Life Goals and Create a Plan to Achieve Them.” But the key is that a person’s worldview, philosophy of life, and values can also change… The Ship of Theseus demonstrates this well.
Ship of Theseus
If we look at the different types of cells in the human body combined, the average age of all the cells in the body is about 7-10 years. (That is, the body has completely regenerated)
A ship sails on the sea for a long journey, inevitably suffering damage. So, the skilled craftsmen on the ship regularly replace a part of the ship to maintain its normal operation. After a few years, every part of the ship has been replaced. Is this ship still the same as the one that set sail in the beginning? If it is, then if we collect the discarded parts and reassemble them into a ship, what is the relationship between these two ships and the original ship? If it is not the same, then when did this ship become different from the original one?
This question is very intriguing. According to this calculation, it’s been about 3 cycles.
The above only discusses the physical aspects. If we also consider the education we receive, the environment we are in, and the experiences we have had, what we pursue at each stage is different. I admire those who have spent “ten years forging a sword.” “The Ten Thousand Hour Rule of Genius” calculates to about ten years if we allocate three hours per day.
Ten years to forge a sword [Source]
A poem from Tang Dynasty poet Jia Dao’s “Swordsmen”: “Ten years to forge a sword, the frosty blade remains untested. Today, I wield it like a gentleman. Who is it that I stand against?”
In such a situation where the purpose often changes and there is no way to go back, is there a solution?
Greedy Algorithm
Greedy algorithm is a simpler and faster design technique for solving some optimization problems. The characteristic of designing algorithms using the greedy approach is to proceed step by step based on the current situation and make the best choice according to a certain optimization measure without considering various possible overall situations. It eliminates the need to exhaust all possibilities in order to find the optimal solution, by making recursive greedy choices based on a top-down approach. By making greedy choices at each step, we can obtain an optimal solution to the problem. Although we must ensure that each step yields a locally optimal solution, the resulting global solution may not always be the best. Therefore, the greedy method should not backtrack.
Conclusion
There is a quote that I really like, coincidentally it is also about choices:
We are not just two random people who happen to meet each other. We have gone through ups and downs, a long and arduous journey, to find one another. In the river of our lives, this moment of fateful encounter is not a coincidence. It is a result of our choices.
Translated by gpt-3.5-turbo