Fate

"Is there such a thing as 'Fate'? Are our lives predestined? I know the answer to that question but I'm not going to tell it to you. You wouldn't believe me anyway.

"Let's ask the question a different way. Does it matter if there's a thing called 'Fate'. If it did exist would it inform our behaviour? Imagine you are a pawn on a chess board. You have limited vision; you can only see a space around you at a time. You know how to take care of yourself, and you know your goal; at every move you make the decision that in your judgement moves you closer to that goal.

"It could be that there is a player that is overseeing the game and orchestrating the set up of the board such that at each point you have been lead to a decision. But it might not be. Either way, do your decisions change? Whether your moves are controlled, the impetus behind them coming from an all powerful source, or whether you act solely on the local information you have available to you, the game unfolds the same.

"Likewise in life, whether there is a preordained future, or whether it's all just emergent patterns stemming from a chaotic system of cause and effect, your path will be the same. Don't naively think that destiny precludes free will."