The book

If even one person changed their future then free will exists.

I've also read the book. It makes quite clear that the flashforward just shows one possible future. And yes, many of the actual futures end up similar (not exactly the same), but there's nothing illogical about that.

If you remember Simcoe's huge second flashforward, he ends up completely negating it through a momentous personal decision.

I would add that Simcoe's insistence following the first flashforward that the future is "fixed" made no sense. Even one of the characters in the novel suggests that if they saw a flashforward in a distant foreign country, they could simply avoid going there to change the flashforward. Etc.

Simcoe's illogical viewpoint is explained in the novel as deriving from a guilty conscience, because if events are set in stone then he wouldn't be responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

Still, I found it hard to buy someone that intelligent would really adhere to the theory. The second aspect I found less than realistic is that CERN and Simcoe are basically let off the hook after the first flashforward. I think many people and countries would have completely freaked out and gone after both.

Of course this was a logical problem in the TV show as well - although the TV show invited a whole host of logical problems that weren't in the book. At least the book is based on a scientific perspective, and never introduced law enforcement characters that act like no law enforcement personnel ever would.


Stuck in purgatory.

Though I've read the book not everyone here has.

Learn to use "Spoilers".

Laura

his box theory is really dumb, we have free will, but we also have destinies, how does both co-exist ?

well lets see it this way, a person has certain number of finite destinies in store. the life choices he or she makes, leads him or her towards it. make poor life choices and you are led down the path of a particularly displeasing destiny.

so what about the small kids/ unlucky people who dont make it ? who die in freak accident ? well I cant yet explain all of it, but it may be related to past karma.

with destiny comes the burden of karma. if anyone is causing a dis balance, has to repay for it in one life or the other. your karma isnt erased when you die.

but leaving that aside, if one decides that the future we see is not for them, they can make different choices and end up in one of the OTHER futures in store for them.

that is free will to choose the path ahead of you.

quoting the matrix , "there is a difference in knowing the path and walking it"



An Idea is the most resilient parasite - Inception