Free Will Vs. Determinism Is Tackled By Scott Meyers

Throughout history, scientists and philosophers have pondered the question, â€Å"Do we as humans really make our own choices, or rather are our choices predetermined by some sort of natural order? Our decisions and actions may, in fact, even be the result of chemical reactions occurring in the neurons residing in our brain. We as humans are curious as to what â€Å"free will† is truly defined as. Whatever the answer, the question posed is one that will result in many different varying opinions, many of which could impact the worlds of both science and philosophy. The subject of free will vs. determinism is tackled by Scott Meyers in his novel, Off to Be the Wizard, which was released in March of 2014. In Scott Meyer’s novel, Off to Be†¦show more content†¦He is baffled by this realization, and holds off from using his newly attained â€Å"powers† for a time, but the temptation of ultimate control eventually proves to be too much for him to manage. Ev entually Martin begins testing reality more and more via the program, and as a result, he discovers a variable that would allow him to change many different details pertaining to his exact location in space and time. These include, but are not limited to, his sea level, latitude and longitude location, as well as his precise location in history. Further testing his will, Martin increases the amount of money in his bank account. This move alerted the attention of the F.B.I., who in turn assigns two federal agents to go and question Martin Banks. The agents collect Martin and bring him to an interrogation room, where they adamantly and harshly question him as to how he deposited money into his bank account without making any transfers. Martin convinces the agents that if they’d allow him to use his phone, he could simply show them the answers they wanted from him. He uses this opportunity to escape, but not back home. Instead he decides to abandon the life he knew, and travels back in time, to the Medieval Era, so that he could live as a â€Å"wizard.† Once there, Martin discovers that he is not the first to come upon the all-powerful computer program. In the following excerpt from Off to Be the Wizard, two characters, Martin and