Individuality is different from free will in that sense, that when you talk about free will, you already make the assumption of individuals.
The concept of individuality is a way for human beings to justify their sense of self, by words, by beliefs, by logical conclusions and by prejudice. The feeling of individuality is the feeling which makes the universe look at itself. Without this simple reflective feeling, there would be no perception of the world. We put the utmost importance to our ability to be aware of life, without this realization it comes logically to the mind that there shall be only a deep sleeplike state of emptiness without it. Even though it might not matter to the universe, it matters to us who harbor this feeling within. If it is a mere confusion of one’s mind, then it is the most important confusion that there is for human beings to possess. This feeling of self, gives us a little glimpse of hope for the freedom that we so cheiris. Or maybe it plays on our survival instincts, and its very nature in essence so enticingly suggests a life beyond this one. And what exactly do we mean by freedom? I talked a bit about freedom in this article already: https://eittl.com/thoughts-on-free-will/ Freedom is that which we think we deem most dear whilst being individuals. But that is only an assumption. Yet, isn’t there something more inherent to being an individual? Something true about these suggestions that the feeling of self suggests to us? Isn’t it human nature to be a separate entity? Don´t we all feel a sense of self?
What do you believe about your individuality? If you believe that there is you, who lives in this world which you perceive, makes decisions, acts out of his own will. You take this to be true. It is an assumption that you hold. But is there anything as a world that you can prove? Do you perceive only senses that your brain creates? Or do you see yourself more as perceiving the outside world? Do you think that what we see is all there is? Or do you think that there is more to the world than what we see? Do you have any other way of proving your existence than saying that you exist? Does your individuality anyhow prove your existence? What does it mean to prove your existence by your individuality? Is there any link between them at all? Can you even ask such a question? Do such questions make any sense?
Let ‘s imagine that you aren’t an individual, that you are in fact a part of a complex machine of interconnected lifeforms, and mechanisms and actions in which the world behaves. You do not actually have a freewill, all your actions are predetermined based on previous experiences and information stored in your brain. There is no thing as your own thoughts, they only appear in your brain. And that it is as much a natural and independent thing, for the brain to produce thoughts as is for the heart to pump blood around your body. Would there still remain the sense of self? How could possibly mere beliefs which existence is questionable be capable of taking this sense of self, when that is what creates the universe for you, and create this illusion? I quite don’t see how it could possibly disappear. It is almost like the universe, the world, the whole existence in the frame of your reference is all there is. It almost seems like you create it for yourself. It almost seems you could find enough evidence to support your own conviction of being the sole creator of your experience, a sort of god.
Isn’t the sense of self the only thing in the universe which is not deterministic?
Understanding the concept of individuality and feeling it are quite two different things. Like it is with everything.
Rationality and thought are in the category of the outside world more than we think, we cannot exist without them, we couldn´t define ourselves as being individuals, but in the same way we couldn’t do this without the outside world. Nevertheless there seems to be no need, for any of those things, for just existing. For instance, there are experiments on animals done with mirrors, which shows their self understanding. (elephants and dolphins) But this behavior might mean anything.
Isn’t consciousness just another sense? Isn’t the way we feel touch, smell, any other sense, the same way we have awareness of our whole being? But the problem is, that we feel all our senses through consciousness. Without consciousness there wouldn’t be any senses, and if we take it to be true that there can be eyes of a cat, without them being conscious of it, then that only proves the point. Or the cat is also conscious and just doesn’t understand mirrors. Or such a logic doesn’t apply to consciousness at all.
Is language and logic any use in understanding these things?
If we cannot really say what consciousness is, we can at least think if there are any levels to this consciousness. What if humans were more conscious from the beginning, and thus this allowed them to evolve exactly these traits that they do possess. Or more precisely something allowed them to gain consciousness.
Why consider consciousness to be a tool for observation?. If we make no distinctions between all the information that enters the brain, and say it is only information as a whole. Consciousness perceives this information.
But what is perception? Perception is the ability to evaluate information: the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.
What does it mean to evaluate information? It means exactly that process of the conscious observation of the information. And yet supposedly unconscious things can evaluate information, like mosquitoes. Or our unconscious brain. We already see the information evaluated is what today’s science suggests. So either mosquitoes are conscious, or consciousness isn’t a part of the evaluation of the information, but is only the sense of observation of the processing of information. And what exactly would that serve us evolutionarily?
If all things ought to be conscious, why do they feel separate?
Let’s imagine a world, in this world there is stuff, rocks, sand, plants, whatever stuff. There are creatures who observe this world, they are made out of the same stuff as all the other things. And let’s say these creatures have a way of communicating between themselves. Which consists of sounds, and symbols from this outside shared experience and they use them to process information, streams of these symbols and sounds, materialize and arise inside their heads, in their perception. So not only do these creatures perceive all the senses, but also a constant dialogue, like a stream of thoughts runs in their head. The very place of this stream of thought isn’t really accessible to them. And yet there appears some underlying sensation of certainty, that it ought to be this way. And these very creatures try to explain their existence, through these symbols, and they name everything. They put names on their inner sides of themselves. And they play around with these words and sentences, to the utmost complexity trying to put a name on more things, trying to notice new things, and give them a name. They are pretty much a name giving species. They like to give names to certain things. And in this way, as they notice more and more things, and give them more and more names, and play with symbols and structures, they devised some inner workings of the system. It is like the sheep, who don’t understand the purpose of their life in the shed, but have figured out a way to better their lives. They know when exactly the wheat shall be thrown in, and they wait. There is this sheep devised theorem: If you wait at exactly 7 to 7:30 there appears a hand in the doorway and throws in some wheat, so if you position yourself precisely to the nearest possible place next to the door, but just in such a way that the door doesn’t slam your head, you can be the first to eat this wheat. And the sheep does what any sheep does, it is only smart and has figured out a better way to do what every sheep does. So in the same way these creatures, say: Well, we have this morals, wherever they came from, and we like to wash, and in order to do that, we need water, and it is very inconvenient for this water to be brought up in buckets, so they figure out a way to drive the water up with pressure, they study, when exactly does the hand with the wheat appear and in the same way as the sheep positions itself, they position the water in such a conditions that when the very smelly human in the second floor opens the tap, the water miraculously flows up. And when these creatures then compare themselves, ( they also like to do that for some reason very much) they find out that there is a certain distinction between them and the animals which are around. They feel their mental superiority above them. And so they roam this world and do the things that they always did, they don’t know why, and invent reasons for themselves why exactly. But that doesn’t really help them anyhow. Eventually they die. And you can see, in them, a little bit of awareness from up here above. Maybe this awareness in them is just another thing in the world which for some reason decided to impose itself on them. Maybe it is a parasitic creature which jumps on these shells and drives them and feeds off of them, and eventually has to jump onto another person, a young one, which has not already been taken. This creature actually helped those monkeys rise and evolve in the right way, and convinced them that it was them, what a smart little fella. And then the creature gets tired and accidentally asks itself the same questions, what am I? no answer. Maybe when you look at them as a whole from above, where time doesn’t flow and it all is just like a desk from a stationary table. Maybe they are just deluding themselves. It may be something more important, it may be something less, it may be something devine or superior, but in the end, there is no way to know yet, and even if we knew in our limited sheep-like capability of perception, would we really understand? Would we really even want to know? Or do we rather remain deluding ourselves, and keep on living, because in the end that is what matters to us all. As it matters for the sheep to go and stand near the door so it can eat.