Yeah, I do wonder. To an extent all of our actions can be blamed on the chemistry in our brains and forces outside of our control, and in that way, I guess our lives are not in our control.

I do think I believe that the universe leans towards goodness, but I could just think that because full cosmic nihilism makes my life lack any sort of meaning and I’m trying to proetect myself. I dunno.

1) Free will is clearly impossible (for the reasons you said)
2) Matter, energy, and empty space have no moral leaning and neither do living things because morality implies free will.

*The universe doesn’t care.

Determinism = woo
No morality or purpose to the universe = great reasons to be selfish (aka enjoying your life)

Determinism = woo

if something determines

the impossibility of free will is just science

if you haven’t come to understand that yet you’re just not thinking about it honestly

Ironically, I find the lack of inherent meaning a great reason to be selfless and to forge our own meaning through solidarity with others.

If we're all on earth to live until we die we can at least make the experience a little brighter for the people here with us and who come after us.

I may also just be predisposed to finding a spiritual meaning in the world around me because of my experiences, but I stand by this.

I’m trying to live like this, too. Mostly failing tbh

I find it much more dishonest to claim scientific certainty on something that's unfalsifiable. Do you have a way to accurately test someone making different decisions in the same scenario that accounts for sensory delay and reactivity? If our brains are wired to present options that we then choose from in response to certain stimuli (which is how I view it), would you consider that to be free will or determinism? I've yet to see any evidence that makes the free will illusion theory concrete.

Admittedly a false equivalency, but if we program AI to program AI in a way that's beyond our capacity, does the programming AI make decisions or have we made them predetermined?

Ja that's pretty much how I feel too, maybe a better way to put it is selfishness with an understanding of what we need to really enjoy life.