My message to you is this: pretend that you have free will. It’s essential that you behave as if your decisions matter, even…

Ted Chiang, Nature, time, free will, reality, civilisation, self-deception

“My message to you is this: pretend that you have free will. It’s essential that you behave as if your decisions matter, even though you know that they don’t. The reality isn’t important: what’s important is your belief, and believing the lie is the only way to avoid a waking coma. Civilization now depends on self-deception. Perhaps it always has.”

Ted Chiang