If we don’t create our own brain, we can’t
truly be responsible for the choices that
follow from it.
The idea that we can be, I like to call the
myth of responsibility.
So yes we make choices, but we do so with
a brain that we didn’t choose, in circumstances
not of our making, and by the time we have
the critical faculties to question our identity,
we’re very much in possession of one.
Of course, we can decide to change aspects
of who we are, and the way that we live our
life, but the way in which we want to change,
and our success in doing so, will be determined
by how we already are as result of genes and
experience.
The implications are far-reaching. Whether
we’re the star pupil or a drop out, disciplined
or distracted, motivated or lazy – it’s
all ultimately a matter of luck.
In the end, luck is what separates the rich
from the poor, the saint from the sinner,
the prisoner from the judge, the powerful
from the powerless.
So notions of credit, blame, punishment and
responsibility cease to make much sense.
But not everyone agrees. These ideas remain
particularly threatening to the systems of
power and privilege that dominate our world.
But it’s worth pointing out that this view
is increasingly taken for granted in the scientific
community, and it’s been endorsed by some
of the greatest minds in history.
So does all this mean that free will is an
illusion? Well. It all depends on how we define
it.
If free will refers to the ability to act
in accordance with the beliefs and values
we hold, to employ reason and learn from our
mistakes, then it’s certainly within our
grasp.
But if free will is the capacity to be truly
responsible for our actions, then no – we
don’t have it.
Now, if ultimate responsibility is a myth,
it follows that no one is truly blameworthy.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that we should
let violent criminals or corrupt bankers walk
free. We still have a right to defend society
from those who pose a dangerous threat and
it’s still important to establish incentives
for socially beneficial behaviour.
The trouble is, the more we pretend that a
lawbreaker is truly responsible for their
actions, the more we blind ourselves to the
deeper causes of their behaviour. And this
just increases the chances of reproducing
the conditions that enabled that behaviour
to occur. And perpetuating these conditions
– poverty, inequality, corruption - is always
the deeper crime.
And the same in principle applies to each
of us. We can’t take credit for being any
more virtuous, dedicated or courageous than
anyone else.
Luck has been the decisive factor in the life
of every person that’s ever lived, yet the
myth is continually reinforced by major religions,
by positive psychology bestsellers, by the
courts, and by much of our political culture.
Without a doubt it’s a highly convenient
way to justify extreme inequality – inequality
of wealth and power. If poorer nations in
the global south can be blamed for their poverty,
if addicts, refugees, prisoners, the homeless,
the sick and the unemployed can be blamed
for their predicament, then social and economic
systems are easily excused.
The responsibility myth makes it seem that
people get what they deserve. It helps to
justify inequality and the economic system
that produces it.
When you realise that had you lived someone
else’s life, you’d be doing exactly what
they’re doing, a profound equality emerges
– one that prevents us from putting ourselves,
in any deep sense, above or below anyone else.
This kind of empathy can be a revolutionary
force for good. That kind of empathy, when
multiplied across society, is a powerful liberating
force, which in this time of turmoil and crisis,
is our best chance of turning conflict into
peace, division into unity, and hate into
compassion.
