The Game of Life: Discussing Determinism in Behavioral Science
In the debate between free-will and determinism, no answer seems to be satisfactory. If we have free-will, then the world seems chaotic, unpredictable, and dangerous. But on the other hand, if our actions are pre-determined, and everything occurs in accordance to strict logics and causalities, then our future may already be decided for us. The kind of anxiety that follows this realisation, is summed up humorously in the following limerick:
"There once was a man who said, “Damn,
It grieves me to think that I am,
predestined to move,
in a circumscribed groove,
and am in fact not a bus, but a tram”.
-Anonymous"
In the case of determinism, all our “brooding and agonizing” over what is the right thing to do may seem bitterly pointless, because it is in fact our propensities to certain stressors that decide how we will act (Pinker, 2003). As such, behavioral science may hammer home this sense of existential dread, due to its commitment to uncovering the causal patterns between human behavior and its surrounding stimuli. Whilst the discipline may not always adhere to such hard-deterministic logic, it is important to pre-empt how those unacquainted with the field may respond to its casual assumptions.
You need not oppose or deconstruct the idea of behavioral determinism in order to make people engage more positively with the prospect that their behavior can be predictable. Instead, I suggest that people may benefit from the heuristic findings of an area of recreational Mathematics, known as John Conway’s Game of Life. Its take on chaos, order, and predictability undermines the strict distinction between free-will and determinism, by painting a fascinating picture of how one’s future can be incalculable, even whilst abiding by simple deterministic laws. Conway’s simulation can prove to be a productive PR tactic for those looking to alleviate existentialism and bring behavioral science to a wider audience.
References
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McLeod, S. A. (2013). Freewill and Determinism in Psychology. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/freewill-determinism.html
Osler, M. (2003). Divine will and the mechanical philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.90.
Pinker, S. (2003). The blank slate. London: Penguin.
Robinson, P. (2004). Does Criminal Law Deter? A Behavioral Science Investigation. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 24(2), pp.173-205.
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About the Author
Liam Monsell
Liam is a writer and counter-extremism analyst based in the United Kingdom, recently graduating from University College London with an MSc in Security and International Relations. He previously graduated with a BA in Politics from the University of Exeter, with research interests in terrorism, behavioural economics, cognitive neuroscience, and the application of machine learning to the study of political speech. His current writings introduce critical epistemology to the way behavioural science is studied and is looking to conduct further research on behavioural responses to the criminal justice system.
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