Free Will
The Nucleus of Individualism and Cooperation
The concept of free will has been a struggle in the society of O for a long time already. As it is built on an organic division of labor there is no room for individualism. Nevertheless, some of our specimen mutated in a way that made them think outside the boundaries of their particular coding. Individualism can be to a society like a cancer cell to a body as it develops an egoistic ‘will’ to survive, abandons its original function and demands more and more resources. On the other side it might also be a path of development worthwhile exploring to gain insights for the functioning of O’s society. That’s why I decided to not just eradicate these specimen. Instead it seemed more appropriate to observe how they would behave in an environment shaped by the choices of individuals. As there was absolutely no necessity to put the socio-organic structure of O at risk it seemed more reasonable to send them to another planet. While the human civilization on earth does have a functional division of labor there is no genetic determination and it is a society of individuals that can decide to work together or against each other. The discovery of such a society was very surprising. However, human societies developed their own ways to force people into submission to serve the needs of the “greater good. Concepts such as religion, solidarity, and nationalism seem to have the purpose of unifying otherwise disconnected beings behind a common idea or goal, thereby creating conformist behavior. The success of these methods has varied heavily over time and geographical landscapes. The constant competition between ideas seems very destructive as human history has shown to be evident. The patterns seem to show that the more powerful a new ideology is the more destruction it brings to the old system. The ineffectiveness of these social constructions seems striking and keeps me wondering how it was possible for this kind of society to develop. Even more so since in recent history concepts like freedom and individualism are growing more and more popular, which seem to oppose cooperation and foster egotism. Humanity’s most developed regions employ a capitalistic market system that seems to reward greed and competition. Surprisingly, it was the constant strive for higher profits by substituting human labor with machines that has enabled a level of productivity which allows and creates the demand for welfare alongside competition. As machines continue to take over both simple, as well as increasingly more complex tasks, it became necessary to have a well-educated workforce to control and maintain these machines and advance their development. Therefore the need for cooperation, which after all has been humanity’s most powerful tool in the evolutionary struggle, remains more relevant than ever. These contradictory elements of cooperation and egoism seem to form the core around which human society evolved. Therefore the voluntariness of cooperation and the constant threat of egoistic behavior create the necessity for counterbalance. These can often take the forms of ideologies that promote either a selfless sense of cooperation (e.g. religions, ethics, humanism) or showcase how cooperation not only benefits the group but most of its individuals (e.g. solidarity, rationality). Besides systems that encourage desired forms of behavior there are systems in place to prevent certain destructive or undesired behavior; the legal-systems of states, community rules, or religious codexes. By creating fears of social isolation and confinement these systems encourage compliance to the norms a specific society builds upon. They cause the individual to limit its own freedom due to the fear of losing its freedom; they cause the individual to limit its egotism due to the fear of social isolation. The lack of absolute control always allows deviant behavior, but as long as the social transfer of norms and values can keep enough people inside of the system, it keeps on running. Therefore free will seems to be more of a theoretical concept as it can only exist in a world without any social interaction. Unlike on Planet O, chance remains a very relevant factor in human societies. Combined with a lack of control this allows for the most amazing, but also the most devastating, incidents.
This is an environment completely unknown to Lnkroft and Rwrevk. They have no social or organic ties on earth which gives them the freedom to experience how life feels if it depends on a mixture of your decisions, chance, and the decisions of others. Let’s see how this plays out.
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