Watching the Script Unfold

Watching the Script Unfold

The concept of destiny is an idea shared by humanity regardless of geography. Whether people are separated by continents, lack any connection to one another, or follow vastly different religions and belief systems, almost everyone has engaged with the idea of fate in some way.

Throughout history, conquerors have believed that victory was their destiny, while others accepted a life of despair as theirs. Many have rooted their belief in destiny in religion, while some have attributed it to nature. Conversely, some reject the concept entirely, arguing that "existence precedes essence", a philosophy that frees individuals from submitting to fate and empowers them to create their own path. One way or another, the concept of destiny has always helped people shape their way of life.

Personally, I believe that destiny does, in fact, exist. This perspective is heavily influenced by my background in physics; I view the universe as a highly deterministic state machine. Given enough computational power, the next iterations of this machine could be calculated with very minimal / no error. Having said that, I acknowledge that this state machine is governed by fundamental laws, regardless of whether humanity has the capacity to discover them.

Admittedly, there are significant flaws in this argument. What if the universe is inherently probabilistic, and our experiences are merely expected outcomes? What if infinitely many realities and states are executing simultaneously, all perfectly valid within their own existence? For the sake of this argument, I choose to set those questions aside. I prefer to view the universe as deterministic, even if that determinism exceeds our ability to comprehend it, and align myself with the idea that "God does not play dice with the universe."

The reasoning is simple: whether a ball is dropped or a voltage is applied, nearly any event can be explained with high accuracy through physics. Calculating how long a stone takes to fall, or predicting what a human will do in the next ten seconds by simulating every atom in their body, is ultimately just a problem of limited computational power and our scientific capability. In strict reality, we cannot calculate the exact fall time of a stone because even a single photon arriving from the sun affects the outcome. To achieve a perfectly exact result, one would have to account for the stone, the Earth, the Sun, the Milky Way, and even photons generated billions of years ago traveling through space. While this level of computation is currently beyond our imagination, we can still simulate the future to a significant extent with minimal error. Now, imagine a machine capable of simulating the world with acceptable accuracy, predicting the next second, minute, hour, year, or perhaps even the next century. This seems like a mathematically sound idea to me, and if we ever reach that level of capability, we will essentially be able to calculate our own destiny.

Regardless of our own limitations, the universe itself seems perfectly capable of calculating it all.

Believing in this strictly deterministic version of destiny comes with heavy psychological consequences and burdens. To argue that everything is predetermined before it even happens, and that the only difference between a human life and a falling stone is a matter of sheer complexity, can easily trigger an existential crisis. The sudden realization that your goals, your successes, and everything you strive for might ultimately mean nothing, that you are merely a collection of atoms obeying fundamental rules, and that your very identity and consciousness are nothing more than illusions, can plunge a person into a profound state of unhappiness. In many ways, adopting this despairing perspective could serve as a textbook example of how not to live your life. At the very least, dwelling on it for too long would drag me into absolute chaos. And did for a while too.

After dealing with these heavy thoughts and experiencing a period of depression in my twenties, the way I evaluated this reality completely shifted. The idea that my destiny is set in stone and I have absolutely no control over it remains as valid as ever. But does it really matter, if there is no way for me to actually know what that destiny is? This realization hit me while I was watching a movie. I was having a great time, fully lost in, when it dawned on me: the film was recorded long before I ever sat down to watch it. Did that make my curiosity, my questions, and my excitement about what would happen next an illusion? At that exact moment, the crushing burden of destiny transformed into the core philosophy of my life.

As Erdem, I realized I have been given the privilege of watching my own life unfold, a free ticket to a show too precious to put into words. I think this aligns closely with the Stoic perspective. The food I eat, my daily walks, the so-called successes and new challenges, the discoveries I make, the people I meet, the songs I hear, and the feeling of the sun on my skin, all of it transformed into a perfect, unique experience. And it is an experience that I alone have the privilege of watching and feeling.

Beyond feeling profound gratitude for this ticket, this realization also strengthens my resolve and shapes how I approach life's outcomes. Movies are not always happy; they feature depressing scenes, scary moments, and sometimes an entire film can be about desperation. I can ultimately do nothing to avoid them; the events that cause me depression, sadness, or failure are simply predestined. I believe this mindset aligns perfectly with Stoic philosophy.

This approach essentially transforms you into a "soul" that calmly observes its own life, experiencing maximum enjoyment and finding peace in surrender.

I believe that, at least within my lifetime, humanity will not advance to a level where the future can be perfectly predicted. This is why embracing my role as the audience of my own film, and accepting that there is no way to interfere with the script, has become my true way of living.

It should never be forgotten that "we watch as much as we play." I will simply continue to do my best.

Erdem,