Free Will

Complicating Resistant Borderlines: The Will Of The Wizards
In Spell or High Water written by Scott Meyer, I am not in control over my free will. The worst torture for Brit the Younger is knowing free will is possible but she does not access it until after becoming Brit the Elder. In this paper, the construct of free will is defined as the ability to be free in the choices we make and free in the deliberations leading to our choices (O’Conner).This paper examines the extent of free will within a world based on a computer file and inspects the extent to which Martin, Brit, and other wizards have the ability to act at their own discretion. In this imaginary story, a computer file contains the data of reality as we know it. The control of this file is the ultimate key to having complete free will.

There are three unmistakable ways to perceive our control of free will. The first perception of control over free will is that our characters have no free will. Martin and all other wizards’ actions are determined. Poised by Strato of Lampsacus when he explained the world “as the product of immanent forces only” (Strato), hard determinism is the belief that all events are caused by past events such that nothing other than what does occur could occur (Vihvelin). This understanding is demonstrated in the first novel of Scott Meyers Magic 2.0 series when Phillip and Martin are discussing the possibility of free will after discussing the knowledge that everything is just algorithms in a computer program. Phillip tries to demonstrate his free will by screaming shut up, something out of character for him, whenever someone says he isn't free. Martin points out that this response proves nothing if it is a pre-programmed response (Meyer). In the second novel, Brit the Younger and Phillip ascertain one contradiction to the deterministic theory that “The whole reason [Brit the Elder]is here is that [Brit the Younger] goes back in time at some point in the future and becomes her, so she will build the city”. This suggests that when Brit the Younger goes back in time to build the city, she is only copying what was there when she got there. Therefore, who designed and created Atlantis in the first place (Meyer 145-146)?

The second perception of control over free will is that our characters have some free will. Martin and all other wizards may perceive their control of free will to have begun because of their use of file. Before the file, Martin is a normal guy and is subject to the same fundamental laws of the universe as anyone, such as gravity, thermodynamics, and electrochemical neuron firing. After his discovery, he has means to do anything he wants and the free thought to do it. From our understanding of the file’s application, Martin is no longer subject to cause and effect. For example, all wizards learn to use the file to defy the laws of gravity and fly in mid air at any speed. But here is a problem: If a cause must have an effect, how can Martin no longer be subject to it?

He does not have to live by any laws. He may change atoms and subatomic particles as he chooses. He can create and destroy mass. He is the thought and the action. He is the cause and thereafter the effect. Has he gained free will or become omnipotent? The file in this fictional story allows us to change the fabric of everything. Because the file is absolutely everything, if you have control over the file, you therefore have control over anything. The file makes free will a relative concept. When the wizard named Jimmy changes the name of a city, it does not stay this name within history. This is because while Jimmy has immense power, he is not omnipotent in his ability to use the file and therefore Camelot changing to London could have been a predestined path of London that results from Jimmy's lack of total free will. The change does demonstrate his ability for some free will, because without some, he could not have changed the past into what he wanted.

Brit the Younger, and other wizards, because of their partial control over the file, have some free will as a result of the principle of alternate possibilities, the idea that even in constraint, “an action is free only if the agent - that is the person doing the thing - could have done otherwise. Truly free actions require options” (Tallman). Brit built a statute of Ayn Rand in the city of Atlantis. As a supporter of Ayn Rand's philosophy, Brit believes you ” should not exploit others for your own gain, but rather realize you highest potential by pursuing rational ends and live in harmony with others by respecting their right to their own life and happiness” (Institute). This philosophy is why Brit brings all the wizards to Atlantis. If choices that influence ”the survival of a rational being through the whole of his lifespan” can be made by anyone with the file, they all who use the file have a moral responsibility for the impact of anything the file is used for (Badhwar). Since these wizards are not subject to any laws (meaning they are not limited in their choices and what they choose is free of any cause but themselves), they must morally hold each other responsible for the choices each of them make. This is the purpose of the Atlantis convention, to establish the moral responsibility each wizard has with regards to chronological pollution, the ethical treatment of non-time travelers, and prevention of abuse of power. So, their choices are free, but how can it be that this new freedom is not determined? While this might appear to be an everlasting loop, it is not for two reasons.

The wizards have a file that allows for unrestrained free will through the ability to be unrestricted by any law, and we know they have an infinite amount of time to master the file to point of omnipotence. It is with this ability of unconstrained time that they gain the means to grasp a full control over free will and have free choice. This guaranteed infinite time allows that Brit will inevitably become omnipotent in her abilities and therefore have full control of free will. It is only with full free will or a mastery of the use of the file that a wizard's life is no longer determined. This omnipotence is possible because of Brit’s ultimate control over atoms and subatomic particles that allow her to create the original city of Atlantis. It is only then that Brit’s future is not subject to any form of determinism. Therefore, any person with file access has the ability to become omnipotent.

In all its time traveling confusion, this novel creates an environment in which the control over free will is accessible to all. Choices are no longer determined by past events nor are they constrained by alternate possibilities (Fitterman). Atlantis is a myth in the world as I live in it, but if Atlantis exists, it could mean Brit, or any wizard, eventually, and with enough time, may have completely understood the file, allowing for complete control over everything, therefore creating a new principle of infinite possibility, a state in which there are no constraints because everything is under your control.

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