By Lili Metanovic and Sadie York
Would you rather live a life where every decision you make is predetermined but leads to guaranteed happiness, or live in a world of complete free will, with unpredictable outcomes, including immense hardship?
Lili: I would rather live a life where every decision I make is predetermined but leads to guaranteed happiness. I and many others struggle with anxiety about making choices and several other things. If I were to live in a world where my decisions were already made for me, I would be very thankful for that. Making decisions is so scary because you always have the fear that you’re going to choose the “wrong” thing and it won’t suffice. But knowing that every decision you make leads you to happiness is a risk I’m willing to take when choosing that life. Happiness is the goal for many people; they desire to live a life in happiness because it is an ideal emotion to be stuck with. Not having to make decisions plus having guaranteed happiness would take an immense amount of anxiety off of my shoulders, so I would be glad to live my life this way.
Sadie: In this scenario, I’d rather live in a world of complete free will, regardless of the hardships I’d have to face. If every single one of my decisions were predetermined, then I wouldn’t have my own identity. Every day, every second of our lives is spent making choices that ultimately navigate our futures. While guaranteed happiness would be convenient, and definitely relieving of stress, how would I even know if those decisions, which were already made for me, were what I wanted? I wouldn’t–because it wasn’t my own choice. A huge part of life is reeling from consequences, whether positive or negative, learning from those actions, and developing more based on the results. Humans are adaptive, and facing trial and error is how we grow. If we had no hardships to face, then how do we learn perseverance? More importantly, how do we understand more about ourselves? Personally, some of my best, most unforgettable experiences are those in which I went into completely unsure about the outcome. Without the element of surprise in predetermined decisions, life would be boring, and you wouldn’t be in control of that life. Free will is something that should never be taken away, because without it, what defines you?