In developing my philosophy of self, I’m beginning to make broad connections, starting to build a framework. However, I’ve discovered that what I’ve begun exploring is dependent upon the existence of free will. It seems if free will doesn’t exist, all my conclusions are moot. (What conclusions? I can’t tell you yet, they’re raw and unrefined. When I’ve coalesced more information, then it’ll be suitable for public consumption.) I look back to a giant list of big questions I made one day, and one of them is: “Is there free will?” I wonder if I should just forge forward or address this seemingly unanswerable question. Moreover: Does it matter if we actually have free will or not, as long as we have the illusion of free will? And what of democracy, freedom, and capitalism? Is that dependent upon free will, as well? Hm.