CHOICE AND DESTINY

Free choice is an illusion.  Except for man, the flora and fauna inhabiting Earth are unaware that they have any choices at all.  Plants seek nutrients and moisture in the ground and oxygen and sunlight above the ground.  There are no decisions to make.  Animals look for food and try to protect themselves and their families without having to think about what they are doing.  They take advantage of opportunities that are immediately available and ward off predators. Man, by contrast, considers the effects of choices that were made in the past and attempts to apply lessons learned to future decision-making.

Unless a level of irrationality is in evidence, the continuous stream of life- choices a person makes are intended to optimize outcomes, given the various circumstances that are encountered.  As with less cerebrally evolved animals, most daily actions are obligatory.  Partaking of food and water are not options that can be easily dismissed in the short run, and not at all in the long run.  Wearing clothing and finding shelter in inhospitable climates are absolute requirements.  The style in which these activities are accomplished may vary, but the ultimate objective of survival remains the same.    

What kind of lives people lead is highly determined by when and where they were born.  The opportunities for improving one’s living conditions were quite different in pre-industrial times than in our current era.  Similarly, a child coming of age in Borneo today, or any less-developed country, is going to be presented with a more reduced array of choices than someone growing up in the United States or Europe.  In addition to structural impediments to learning skills or acquiring knowledge, highly restrictive constraints imposed by tradition or religion can prevent the intelligent and talented members of a society from achieving their full potential.

Non-supportive upbringing and weak early education impose psychological barriers to taking advantage of the talents and intelligence with which people are born.  It is very difficult to break away from the narrow views and modes of behavior displayed by parents and teachers.  In some societies, deviant behavior can be dangerous to one’s health.  At best, opposing traditional customs or ways of thinking make one an outcast and lead to reduced opportunities, either as a family or tribal member or as a person desirous of moving ahead within the existing cultural milieu.  In addition, personal choices are limited by the set of intellectual traits and abilities with which someone is endowed.