Enigmas for Thought
Instead of focusing on my test...here's what occupied my mind for thirty minutes....hope you enjoy it (just a random piece)
"I'm just saying, it's a possibility...isn't it?" Alex asked, cocking his feline head and looking at his two friends. His stripes played out beautifully in the low lighting of the restaurant, making the tints of orange and black stand out all the more vibrantly. It had started out pretty simply--their conversation--and then just one question set them off. Really, in the beginning it had been a joke, but now that they were pursuing the question, it was lingering over them all; if not jokingly and half-heartedly.
Lacy had a look of doubt on her muzzle, obviously able to see such a possibility, but one as ludicrous. Perhaps not even ludicrous, but the notion, when thought of in its entirety could leave a strange chill down her spine. She knew that if she said she was chilly they would make fun of her because she was always chilly when they went out to eat. Sadly, Bret wasn't here and she couldn't steal her boyfriend's coat as she normally did. Like Alex, his colors stood out greatly in the lighting of the restaurant; her vixen appearance being amplified almost. She took a sip of her water to take more time and finally, when realizing Joseph wouldn't answer decided it was up to her, "Well...I mean, yeah, but...isn't it a stupid topic?"
"Stupid?" Alex asked, frowning, "It's critical thinking skills; to question what you think you know,"
"But can you question the innate assumptions you make in everyday life?" Joseph asked while scratching at his chin, where he was attempting to grow out a small goatee of sorts. It was greying, a contrast to his black fur, and unlike Alex, the light of the restaurant almost made him disappear into the shadows. The goatee on his muzzle acted as a beacon almost, as to where he was. Alex didn't like it, he said it tickled him, but he wasn't going to trim just because of that; he felt it made him look sophisticated. "I mean...I know that I know that gravity will keep me from floating off into space,"
"Do you?" Alex asking, smirking a little. "What proof do you have?"
"Newton's laws for starters...the force is related to their masses, the distance between them, and a constant," Lacy answered.
"Well...that's for big bodies; planets and things that don't weigh under a few kilotons I think," Joseph replied with a scowl. He hated to disprove his own argument, but it was technically not true. "Still...I know because the laws of physics dictate that I'm going to stay on the ground. I mean, things in motion stay in motion, everything has an inverse reaction...that kind of stuff,"
"While true, that isn't what I'm asking," Alex said, dipping his straw lazily into his drink. He looked over at the black wolf and shrugged his shoulders, "I mean psychometric values...things that can not be generally measured by any standard mean; intellect, love, the soul,"
"You could argue that intellect is nothing more than one's capability for learning and retaining information; perhaps talking a bit about neurology and what not," Joseph replied.
"And for love and the soul, you could just say that it's a chemical mess of the brain. One current definition of love is just an obsessive compulsive disorder for a person..." Lacy added.
"But why is there more than one definition, why is there a difference in opinions?" Alex asked with a chuckle. "Didn't you just ask something that depends on epistemology; when you ask yourself how you came about the knowledge of what you know? How do you come to one conclusion, say, that love is something you develop and another person who says you can just fall into it? Which, really, brings us back to what I asked to begin with; how do you know that you are in control of your actions?"
"Because I make a conscious choice about them. I am aware of the fact that my thoughts are mine; I think therefore I am," Joseph replied quickly.
"I'm not talking about existence or essence," Alex said with a sigh, "What I mean is that, you know you exist in that respect. But how do you know that you are in control of your existence?"
"Because, as I said before," Joseph said with a scowl, "I make conscious choices about them. I know that I have free will because of my ability to critically think and question those types of concepts. I think you've been reading too much sci-fy Alex; thinking about an anti-life equation and what not. I mean, things like that don't really exist you know,"
"First off," Alex said, scowling deeply at the wolf, "That is a comic book term; it is what Darkseid is seeking; the ability to control sentient life...and...yes, that's basically the question. And we don't know that it doesn't exist..."
"How do we know that free will exist?" Lacy asked with a chuckle. "Well, I mean, isn't it crazy to assume that everything that has happened was meant to be in the beginning?"
"Is it crazy to assume that neglecting air resistance a feather and hammer would drop at the same speed? A pup would tell you there's no way," Alex replied quickly.
"That's entirely different!" Lacy said with a scowl, "That's like trying to teach calculus to a monkey..."
"Now that's a speicist comment if I've ever heard one," Joseph said with a small chuckle.
"I didn't mean it like that," Lacy replied quickly, scowling even more now. "And if you have to have a better example...you can't compare a person who has grown up and is learned to someone just beginning to be able to understand concepts like physics, even simple gravity. They don't clearly understand Newton's Laws. And while you're going to be using pups as examples; we'd be wise to use Jean Piaget's studies,"
"Well, I guess," Alex admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "But I've never really looked into his stuff...that's more Joseph's area; he's the one majoring in psychology,"
Joseph smiled a bit, "Well...we never really talked about Piaget's things in respect to understanding how we come about to know what we know; it's more the concepts, but in this context it's really the same. Lacy is right though, it isn't even a fair analogy to compare a child's understanding of the universe to an adult's. And, something you two aren't realizing is what Vygotsky said about Piaget's theories; that different cultures may stress different aspects of learning--that is to say that not everyone learns in the same way or even learns the same concepts. While in the developed countries there may be an emphasis on the sciences and maths, that isn't really true for everywhere else; catching fish to live is more important than taking the integral of a polynomial,"
"You don't even know what a polynomial is," Alex jeered. The wolf scowled at him and quickly stole his last fry, leaving his plate empty and his body wishing he'd eaten the last fry; the last fry is always the best...well, next to the first one.
"Engineers are jerks," Lacy said with a chuckle, getting a quick nod from Joseph. "And I also think that free will isn't something you can find out,"
"It's about the school of determinism really," Alex pointed out, "Either things are predetermined or they are not,"
"Well, I mean, some things obviously are...like the laws of physics," Joseph noted, unsure what else he could claim that was unquestionable. "Or...that the earth is a sphere,"
"True, but none of those are psychometrics either," Alex said, grinning at the way Joseph frowned; he loved pulling the wolf's buttons.
"Well...perhaps some things are meant to be; like understanding the senses. All of the information that we perceive comes from our senses and without any of them we wouldn't' be able to understand our world in the way that we do. It is our conscious use of these that push us to understand the whys and hows of the world. But at the same time you can have a dichotomy with other peoples as to what is portrayed. While...for example, you two may be fine in the restaurant, I may think it's a bit chilly," Lacy suggested and quickly scowled at the two, "Don't either of you say anything!"
Alex looked around and laughed, "And no coat for you to steal this time,"
Joseph chuckled along with the tiger while Lacy just skulked at the two of them. After a minute he looked back at Alex, "I don't think that the topic is really that important...don't you?"
"It could be," Alex replied.
"Well...isn't this just going to continue in a circle...cause whatever one of us says is just 'meant to be' or it isn't," Joseph suggested.
"Personally," Lacy said, gesturing to herself as if for emphasis, "I think the topic of free will is nothing more than a circular argument. Think of it this way, if it doesn't exist then I was meant to say this, and nothing can change that, but we have no way of knowing. But if free will does exist then all of our actions are our own and no one else's...and in which case, once more nothing has changed. You can't prove it one way or another...and getting boggled down by it is a waste of energy,"
Alex chuckled at the fox and looked over at Joseph, "Well...that's about it isn't it?"
"You were just waiting on one of us to say that weren't you?" Lacy asked, moving her leg strategically closer to Alex so she could stomp on his foot.
"No...I mean...does it matter? We may have chosen to have that or it was fa--OW!" Alex mewed as Lacy's heel smacked down onto his foot.
"Now I know I chose to do that," Lacy said with a sly grin.
"Mean...that's what you are," Alex said, scooting out of the booth with the rest of them following. He looked over at Joseph and smiled, "Can you pay this time Babe?"
Joseph felt his nose twitch and he frowned at the tiger, "It's your turn though,"
Alex pouted a small bit, letting his shoulders slump and averted his eyes just a bit from the wolf, "I left my credit card back at the apartment,"
Joseph scowled even more, but the tiger's 'guilty' look as he'd come to call it, did just what it always did and he caved, "Fine, fine...but you're taking my turn...and I'll make sure you don't forget your card,"
Alex's 'guilty' look popped like a bubble and he grinned at the wolf, "Thanks!"
"Joseph...you should slap him for that," Lacy said, chuckling a little at the two.
"I'll slap him later," Joseph replied with a chuckle. He looked back and smiled at the fox, "And just tell Brett that just because he wasn't here doesn't mean his turn isn't coming up to pay either,"
"Oh I'll tell him," Lacy said with a laugh, "Because the more of us there are means the less times I have to pay..."
"But the more of us there are means the bigger the check," Alex noted quickly.
"Joseph, really do slap him for me," Lacy said, shooting her best evil eye at the tiger.
"I'll slap him later...like I said,"
"Ohh...this is sounding fun. Promise B--Ow!!"
"That!" Joseph said, pointing at the tiger that was rubbing the back of his head, "Is for being a pervert,"
Alex scowled at the wolf and Lacy, who was smirking at him. He couldn't keep it up for long though and just chuckled. They were soon all walking out of the restaurant, discussing when they would meet again and quickly zipping through what was normally discussed at the table instead of today's odd topic. His fingers slowly moved and locked in with Joseph's. The wolf's paws were always so warm during the fall nights.
As always they walked Lacy to her car first and the fox smiled at them as she unlocked her door. Just before getting in though she looked back, "Still, I think it's a bit ludicrous," Lacy replied opening the door and getting into her car, "I mean...what? Can you really imagine that our entire conversation was scripted out and then written down; that we had no choice in the matter--like characters from a book or something?"
Alex looked back and shrugged his shoulders, "Well...it's just an interesting idea," he said,
Joseph squeezed the wolf's paw and chuckled a little, "I still think you've got too much freetime,"
Alex grinned a little, "Well...maybe," he admitted.
"See you two later?" Lacy asked, her starting ignition making the question seem softer than it really was.
"Yeah...have a safe drive," Joseph said, smiling.
"You too you two," Lacy replied and as soon as she was buckled was off onto the road.
Alex looked over at the wolf and squeezed his paw again, "So...about slapping me...."
Joseph couldn't help but roll his eyes at the tiger, "You want to know what I think about free-will?"
"What?" Alex asked, grinning. The wolf's paw left his own and went to his side, drawing him closer and acting as better warmth from the fall's cool air.
"It's a lie! A total lie! There has to be some jerk out there pulling the strings if someone like me gets stuck with a jerk like you," Joseph replied with a smile, walking off to their own car slowly, "And I'll only slap you if you don't play nice," he added after a minute, smiling at how the tiger's tail thumped against his back at the words.
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Well, that's it. Not a really deep or story-based thing. I more or less just liked the idea of fictional people talking about free-will...it's got a certain irony that I like. And then there's the fact that even when writing this the characters kind of developed personality, and...well, perhaps this is just 'mumbo-jumbo' of sorts,but I think it's an interesting concept for characters becuase sometimes those characters we relate to develope so well that they become entirely seperate entities. You know, like if you're writing or reading, you base your premises off the first set for the character, and then it branches out, and with time and development that character is someone entirely unique and original...well...hopefully....and there you have it: my tange within a tangent!