Our society should not
eliminate crimes or threats without ethical considerations like in the society
of the movie Minority Report directed
by Steven Spielberg. In the society of Minority
Report, criminals were arrested for crimes that weren’t even committed yet.
The society was deterministic, considering no existence of freewill but
predetermined crimes. If we were to eliminate crimes and threats without
ethical considerations like the society of the Minority Report, we would be violating the existence of freewill and
privacy that all conscious living beings have.
Determinism is the belief that everything in this world such
as a person’s fate is already determined by God or some other of natural laws.
On the other hand, freewill is the ability to make choices which may alter
their situation and fate. In this case, the movie Minority Report falls into determinism. Three “Precogs” are able to
determine crimes that will happen before it is actually committed. Officers are
able to arrest criminals before the crime is committed and lock them up for
committing precrime. Their society no longer believes in freewill in which a
person has a choice to alter their situation because all crimes are already
determined by the three Precogs. It seems that if a society falls into
determinism there can be no freewill because whether or not a person commits a
crime is already determined. Then it is necessary to eliminate crimes and
threats without ethical considerations.
This is not true, if determinism exists, freewill can
exist as well and ethical considerations would be taken into account. According
to the article “Free Will and Determinism in the World of Minority Report” by
Michael Huemer, determinism and freewill can not only coexist, but they also
share a symbiotic relationship. According to Huemer, without determinism “our
actions [will not be] determined by antecedent causes, these actions would
merely be random occurrences (107),” just like rolling a dice. It is a person’s
freewill or choice that they make that create the cause and effect phenomena of
determinism like choosing what cards to display when playing poker. Without determinism, there will only be
random occurrence, and no matter what we do with our freewill it would not
matter. This would not make us free, but rather not free. So in order to be
free, determinism and freewill must coexist. Without determinism, there will be
no freewill; and vice versa. Therefore, if we have freewill, we must also have
determinism and ethical considerations will be required to protect our
freewill.
Privacy is the main ethical consideration a society
should have. According to The Constitution of the United States of America,
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated…(643)” no matter what. But in the society of the Minority Report, people’s rights to privacy are highly violated.
The three Precogs are able to see the scenes before, during and after the crime
scene, without the crime having taken place yet. If our society finds a similar
way to eliminate or reduce crimes by violating people’s privacy, it would be
unethical to do so. Without privacy, people lose a sense of security and
freedom. So to protect our freedom, our privacy shall not be violated in such
way.
If our society is able to eliminate or reduce any sort of
crimes, threats, or terrorism, our privacy and other ethical means shall be
considered to protect our freewill. Even in any deterministic situation or
deterministic society like from the movie Minority
Report, freewill coexists with determinism. John Anderson was able to
choose not to shoot Leo Crow even though the three Precogs predicted he would
shoot Leo Crow. Even in a deterministic society of the Minority Report,
freewill coexists. And it is true according to Michael Huemer that without
determinism, there will not be freewill. So in order to have freewill,
determinism and freewill must coexist. Determinism is the cause and effect of
the choices we make from practicing our freewill. And therefore, our freewill
should be protected by societal rights by protecting our privacy to encourage a
sense of security to withhold our freedom.
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