RePlay!

So I was looking through some of my old stuff, and found this old blog post from a long time ago. But I think the stuff I talk about inside are still kinda relevant to me today i.e. I'm still confused over those topics! So I'm posting it again. People who've already read it, feel free to skip through!

Yesterday, I watched this Chinese show in which one of the characters said she wished things had turned out differently and if only this hadn't happened or that hadn't happened and this guy who was sort of in love with her - it's complicated and I have no intention of going into why he was sort of in love with her - told her that even if the situation had arisen again, the outcome would have remained exactly the same because the characters of each person involved would also have remained exactly the same.

This got me thinking. Yes, I do realise that it does seem as if only Chinese drama serials get me thinking. But you see, Chinese drama serials often have these psuedo-philosophical scenes and also, they are very "drama-mama" as one friend calls it. Besides, they are also very formulaic which allows for parallel commentary running through your brain even as you watch it.

The sentence caught me because I had been, in rather a desultory manner, I admit, pondering on the idea of consciousness and destiny and in that one sentence, the idea of character as destiny popped into my brain.

I dare say this is not a new concept by any means and if I did a search, I'd probably find tens, hundreds, thousands of folks who've already written treatises and stuff on it. Hell, the relation to the nurture-vs-nature debate is so close that I probably seem a right ass and maybe a left ass too for not having made the connection earlier.

Having said that, this little grain of an idea intrigues me. People often speak of time travel and say if they could go back in time, they would have done this and done that, changed this or changed that. Would they really have, if time travel was possible?

We often believe that we make decisions based on knowledge and rational, objective analysis of our knowledge. I don't think that it will be disputed, though, that no matter how logical we think we are, our emotions, preferences, prejudices and values always affect our final decisions.

And what are our characters if not these things? We are "a collection of physical, mental and physiological traits" and these traits pre-dispose us to favour certain options over others. Even if we know that a horrible outcome for us may be the result of choosing our preferred option, we may still choose that option precisely because our character traits demand it.

What I mean is this: X and Y have to choose between saving their money for a computer and to spend their money now for a night out on town with friends. Assuming X and Y have identical financial situations blah blah blah, the only thing that will influence them is their character. X would choose to go out with his friends because he feels that there's no point in having money if money doesn't do anything for you. Y would choose to save the money because he thinks that the money would be better off used for something more useful. But Z might choose to save half the money and use the other half for going out. Maybe two months later, they might get a small windfall - X will think the same and do the same, Y will think the same and do the same and Z will think the same and do the same.

Police can identify repeat offenders because these criminals have a signature that lead them to do certain things exactly the same. Girly magazines advise over and over and over again to change your mindset before you can change your life, your boyfriend, career dips, underwear preferences, whatever. The point is - we are "programmed" for lack of a better word - it's late! I'm sleepy! - to do the same things over and over because of our characters. Even if we had a chance to change any of our actions.

And how are our characters formed? This question is the heart of the nurture-vs-nature debate. If our characters are the main driving force behind our actions, it would mean that if we knew what builds characters, we could influence or even control actions. Going the next step down sort of scares me, particularly after I've recently read Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" - if governments found out exactly how to build people's characters, change their thoughts, they could directly influence what society will be like.

Also, if we are, indeed, at the mercy of our own dispositions, then is there actually any of that free will thing that all er...religious persons *cough-Christian evangelists-cough* seem to love to talk about so much? I mean, I could say that God made me this way, so actually most of my free will is gone. Sure, there's the possibility of me choosing the other option, but it's not really very likely is it, since I'm already predisposed to preferring one of the options over the other?

Another thing: If we did choose things because our characters already gravitate towards one choice, then what happens to our learning capacity? I think this is where the definition of character comes in right? Our experiences influence and even define our values, prejudices, preferences et al, so our characters are ever-expandable and ever-changing. So with the inclusion of new experiences, our choices become changed.

HOWEVER, if so, then would the above become invalid? Would we become completely unpredictable as changes become wrought in us? This doesn't seem probable to me. In everyone, certain choices never change. Chocolate will always remain the preferred flavour of ice-cream lovers and yet others prefer vanilla. Some people will always be quick to anger, even as they learn to control that anger and some people will always have the patience of saints. Even these small examples suggest that some characters traits are enduring, if not permanent.

The thing is, do such traits have a stronger grip on our actions than the variable ones? And how do such traits come about? Are they really so long-lasting and unchanging?

I'm giving myself a headache.