Our own makers
Free will and creating ourselves
Despite the overwhelmingly mixed reviews on Disney's takeover of Lucas Films Ltd., I remain a Star Wars fan. Sure, the glut of new material has overwhelmed even diehard fans. And yet, this near-constant deluge of movies and TV series (plus novels, comic books, and video games) steadily underwhelms with each new installment. Too much of a good thing, I guess. But I always love a well-imagined far-out sci-fi world and enjoy all the spectacular creature designs. And, very occasionally, some of the writing, too.
A few recent Star Wars stories, in particular, have been excellent (e.g., Andor), and sometimes, insightful characters and messages emerge amid all the CGI distractions and loose storylines. I recently encountered one such nugget of wisdom as I did a random background search on Lando Calrissian's droid co-pilot and companion, L3-37.
"Sure, some guy in a factory probably pieced me together originally, and someone else programmed me, so to speak. But then the galaxy itself forged me into who I am...we grow away from that singular moment of creation, become something new with each changing moment of our lives—yes, lives—and look at me: these parts. I did this."
~L3-37 speaking to Lando Calrissian, from “Last Shot,” a Star Wars novel by Daniel José Olde
I love this passage because it ties together many seemingly disparate ideas and beliefs about existence. Notions of creation and destiny reverberate throughout, but self-determination and free will also play a part in this narrative. It's a mash-up of religious and metaphysical speculations tied together with a practical reality theorized to be of one's own making.
Said another way, each of us is nature, nurture, and DIY. At least according to a fictional robot from a long time ago, in a made-up galaxy, far, far away.
L3-37 ("Elthree"), a feminine self-modified piloting droid, was first introduced in Solo: A Star Wars Story (the origin story for the seminal character Han Solo, played by Harrison Ford in Episodes IV through VII). She was created, so the story goes, by a droid maker and thrust into the universe without any say in the matter. But rather than "live" a life of servitude and effective enslavement, Elthree took it upon herself to change and expand who she was while alone in her maker's shop. The resourceful droid replaced her legless body with a humanoid form, extended her memory, and loaded her banks with knowledge of the plight of her kind (other droids). She became an activist with the hardware to exercise her rights and the knowledge to defend them.
Elthree was both created and self-made, a product of the external and internal - plus free will. (I know, that's a lot for a robot. But again, this is fiction.)
I won't belabor more details of the character because 1) it's all been said elsewhere, and 2) that's not the point of this newsletter. No, the point here is to discuss the art, craft, and philosophy behind making things, and this surprising little thought-provoking jewel got me thinking a bit more deeply about what it takes to "make" us.
But can we "make" ourselves?
According to Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky, the answer is a resounding NO. He argues that virtually all human behavior is beyond conscious control and is instead a product of the complex circumstances of our birth and lived experience. Everything is outside of us, from mundane actions to life-defining moral decisions. In short, we can't help what we do, but rather, an infinitely complex series of events leads us to do every single thing we ostensibly "choose" to do. While his argument is compelling, supported by decades of research (plus Sapolsky is a MacArthur Genius Award recipient, after all), most other scientists, psychologists, philosophers, nations, and the general public accept, to the contrary, that we humans have free will - the ability to decide our actions, mainly outside of external influence.
If pressed on the matter, I'd say my beliefs lean heavily towards Sapolsky's, putting me in a rarified and quite possibly out-of-touch minority. But in watching me day to day and in my writings here and elsewhere, I suspect such beliefs are not apparent. Rather, in my expressed worldview (the one that matters, I suppose), I believe one must do things based on an idealized reality, where we choose to make our path, if only because the alternative is all too untenable and unacceptable, no matter how true.
As a global society, we believe in free will because it makes life's meaning somehow tangible, even if it's entirely and utterly all made up.
Free will, whether real or believed, does not mean that we "make" ourselves, as Elthree suggests. (She was a robot and literally took herself apart and re-made herself the way she wanted.) But it is about living our lives beyond the dictates of genetics and environment alone. Despite our birth and upbringing, we can all choose what we do and how we do it. To a degree, anyway. In a sense, we make our path and, in so doing, make ourselves into who we end up being.
The very fabric of our culture is based on this notion, and our systems of reward and punishment stem from a collective agreement that, in the end, we are each responsible for our own actions. Our good decisions are praised, as are our accomplishments. And when we stumble, falter, or transgress, we must own these too. What we then do after - how we grow because of or rise above despite - defines us throughout our lives.
Whether these decisions make us, or we make the decisions and, in turn, make ourselves, is rather semantic.
Uncovering our collective but singular origins delves more into the ponderings of creation and life's ultimate meaning, none of which can be summed up in a random musing inspired by a pop culture franchise. No, these existential concerns are better left to the world's religions or relegated to the many philosophical or science-based inquiries into reality. But whatever we believe, and regardless of how we come to know what we think we know, some degree of self-determination - the agency to make our lives what we wish - helps drive many of us to do the things that make life worth living.
As we see "reality" and become who we are through the lived experience, the truth on the ground is one we make for ourselves.
"So maybe when we say the Maker we're referring to the whole galaxy, or maybe we just mean ourselves. Maybe we're our own makers, no matter who put the parts together." ~L3-37
We are all born into this universe without consent, and then, no matter the assistance, we must learn to make it through as far as possible before we return to the dust of space. Believing that we can move beyond the created and into the self-made is a remarkably optimistic way of navigating this life.
We can be our own makers.
I like that.
Until next time.
JRC