Nihilism

[GrandizerII]

My view on all this is that determinism is not the same thing as fatalism... that fatalism is a huge misunderstanding of determinism, confusing the notions of fate and destiny with causality. Say for instance I had won the lottery in the past... and it was thus part of the causally determined path of my life... then fatalism would be akin to me hypothetically being informed in the past that I was destined to win the lottery, and with that information concluding 'if I'm destined to win the lottery, I may as well not buy a ticket', which is just silly. The notion of destiny assumes that a person can a) know their future and b) with said 'knowledge' not be able to change it. Neither of which I believe can be true, even hypothetically; ie I believe it is impossible to know, even hypothetically as the result of some sci-fi/woo intervention, your future without then being in a position to influence or change it. So though I am a hard determinist... what was couldn't have been any other way, what is can't be any other way, and what will be can't be any other way... with allowances made for quantum randomness... that does not mean I believe in destiny in the sense described of ever being able to know my future.

I agree with you here. And note your caveat "with allowances made for quantum randomness" ... this is a key point to keep in mind when pondering whether we play a causal role in a universe where quantum randomness occurs, as opposed to just being an observer. And if so, how much do we contribute to the causal chain of events.

Quantum stuff does confuse this view a bit, but not much; it means (to me) that looking forward there is a certain amount of quantum randomness potentially or actually influencing causation going forward... such that going forward it is potentially less predictable... but looking backwards at the past, though things may have been able to have been another way if quantum randomness had gone another way, it went the way it went and therefore from the future looking back vantage point, it was what it was and couldn't have been any other way. So though I class myself as a hard determinist, I would say I am getting softer as it were, because of the unknown influence and unknown extent of that influence of quantum physics. But in all practical terms, I'm a hard determinist.

That's what I mean. Assuming quantum mechanics, the future is unpredictable. As in by nature. If assuming Copenhagen interpretation, more than one future is possible to us, and which future is actualized is actualized randomly. Assuming many worlds, then only one future (selected among many futures) is available to us, but we have no idea which future it is and our actions won't causally lead to whatever future is selected for us. With quantum mechanics, all we can do is go with the flow.