Yesterday I mentioned free will. One of the regular readers of this blog asked me the other day what I thought about this subject. I am sticking my neck out in the hope that someone will produce some stunning and persuasive reason why I am wrong. And if they do, I will promptly sink into a total lethargic funk and decide not to make any more effort at anything anymore.

Some scientists, and, probably, some philosophers, have been asking whether we really have free will, or whether we are programmed from birth to act as we act. For what it is worth I strongly believe that we do have free will, and this is why:

1. No one has yet come up with a smidgeon of proof that life is pre-ordained. In medicine researchers talk about genes producing a pre-disposition towards certain diseases, but genes don’t normally determine the illness. Likewise, maybe one’s genes give you a pre-disposition towards being, for instance, anti-social or the ability to become a lawyer, but they don’t determine one’s choice or predestine you, one way or another. They may have a role in depression, or in your intellect, or your energy level, but they do not remove your freedom of choice. Nor do I know of any other organ or series of thingumijigs in the body that can be candidates for pre-ordaining our actions.

2. If someone, something, somehow, somewhere is arranging our lives so that we are simply pawns in some obscure game, then no criminal is answerable for his crimes, no murderer can help murdering, and no politician can help lying; and I had to start this blog because the “Thing” told me to. This, if true, makes life wholly pointless, and removes not only the fun of it, but any incentive to make an effort.

3. Choice and free will go hand in hand. For instance, years ago I met my (now) wife on a walk in Italy. For reasons I won’t bother the reader with I voluntarily and very happily asked her to marry her, leave my country and my family, and go and live with her in a foreign country. I had a choice. I could have stayed where I was and our friendship would have taken a different course. But instead I readily emigrated, having met her totally by chance. No great, magisterial power had fun arranging it; it was totally a matter of choice. To suggest I (or she) had no free will in the matter is preposterous.

We all believe we have free will, or at least, sufficient to free to be able to make decisions for ourselves and not blame anyone or anything else. So be it.

I have written this of my own free will.

“Could you be living inside a simulation created by a more advanced intelligence? Where does your unerring belief that you are not come from? The short answer is you don’t. Consider this: with every passing moment, we get closer to creating intelligent machines, maybe even conscious ones. If we can do this, couldn’t someone – or something – else do it too?

“Philosopher Nick Bostrom at the University of Oxford, in 2003, argued that if humans were one day able to create simulations populated with conscious beings, it’s at least possible that we, too, are living in such a simulation. Since then, that possibility has, if anything, become more realistic. There are projects seeking to build entire animal brains from scratch, modelled exactly on living ones, down to individual neurons and the myriad connections that interlink them. When very simple versions were given robotic bodies, lo and behold, they behaved like the creatures they were modelled on. It’s probably only a matter of time before we create virtual beings inside computers.

“In all likelihood, we will never find out whether or not we are simulations ourselves. But one thing is clear, says philosopher Thomas Metzinger of the University of Mainz: each of us has a robust experience that “I exist”. Perhaps a slightly more manageable problem is to figure out where that experience comes from”. (Anil Ananthaswamy, New Scientist)

A simulation creating a simulation? Does it matter? And what is the purpose of it all? To do it because you can do it?

I think this is totally unnecessary, and maybe immoral. Why can’t these people, probably publically funded, work on ways of improving the lives of the huge number of the poor and the sick? Science has done so much good for the human race, but it is also capable of harm. Aside from anything else, simulated humans programmed by humans would, if successful, destroy any idea that we have free will. Maybe, in reality, we don’t, but we do have choices, and one of those choices is to live a life of mutual cooperation, consideration for others, and joyful care for and enjoyment of the world around us. This whole effort might amuse a few scientists anxious to make names for themselves, but I think the idea of virtual humans inside computers is sinister and should be halted. In any event, existence seems real enough to me. What about you?

In the US – where companies routinely use computer algorithms to whittle down job applicants – 72% of CVs are never seen by human eyes. (The Guardian)

There is little more depressing and destructive of self-confidence than job hunting with no contacts and no one to help. When I was young I found myself in this position, trying to get a job in a marketing department of a big company for the sake of experience. I sent out dozens of job applications, with no reaction whatsoever. And this with a good degree and what seemed a reasonable CV. In the end I did get a job in a marketing department, but not before periods of fear and even despair. Good for the humility, but little else.

Now it must be even more difficult. Companies don’t want to have to train you; they want ready-made experts. And they no longer value broad education, problem solving ability or imagination, as opposed to training. This makes the role of parents, relatives, friends and friends of friends ever more important, not to mention college professors prepared to recommend you (at least for an interview). As for the interview itself, do not go into one without plenty of practice in front of experienced people prepared to critique you.

All this does little for your ataraxia. Probably, fathers in ancient Greece fixed employment for sons with their personal acquaintances. More probably, you followed your father’s profession and were trained by him. Girls didn’t figure in the world of work. Life was simple and short-term contracts unheard of. What hasn’t changed is the question all interviewers quietly ask themselves,”Can I work with this person and is he going to help me look good or be a pain in the neck?” In any event, job hunting and interviews have to be approached professionally and methodically, with advice from experienced people.

Scientists in the US have discovered a painkiller that seems to work just as well as morphine – but without its potentially lethal side effects. The chemical compound PZM21, which has so far only been tested on mice, appears to target the same pain-reducing brain receptors as opium-derived painkillers such as morphine, but is more selective: as a result it does not seem to cause the potentially lethal breathing problems, or the constipation, associated with morphine. Moreover, based on assessments of how the mice moved after taking it, the researchers conclude that PZM21 causes less activation of the brain’s reward system, indicating that unlike morphine, it may not be addictive. Scientists hailed the study as “very exciting”. However, the research is in its early stages: the compound has yet to be shown to be safe and effective on humans. (The Week)

It is not a new development, but a welcome one nonetheless. Surgeons doing shoulder, hip, or similar surgery now no longer use morphine in the traditional way. Instead, they inject painkiller into the back. This was a development pioneered in California, and now used everywhere for after-surgery pain. You can simply walk out of hospital painless a couple of hours after the operation. Brilliant! I mention it because after I had surgery years ago I was given morphine, which is a horrible drug, for the reasons mentioned above. It also needs a lot of patience to stop using.

It’s good to report these advances in drug development and patient care. It makes life so much more pleasant and allows you to resume it with enthusiasm.