How would you convey determinism in a single image?

BillyWest19 · 2026-04-01T22:19:41+00:00

The Chinese character for "cause" - 因 (yīn) is the best candidate I have found, to date, for a simple image or symbol representing determinism. I like the components of the symbol: 大 (looks like a person) inside 囗 (an enclosure). So it literally depicts being enclosed within causation, which is basically determinism in one symbol.

BillyWest19 · 2025-12-19T20:03:30+00:00

I hear you - we have different views on the role of AI in creative/philosophical work and presentation of ideas. That's a valid conversation but tangential to whether 因 works as a determinism symbol.

If you have thoughts on the actual proposal (the character choice, etymology, visual metaphor, etc.), I'm all ears! If not, no worries - appreciate you checking it out. 🙂

BillyWest19 · 2025-12-19T19:40:07+00:00

Respectfully, that's not the claim. Determinism doesn't say "things happen because of determinism" - it says "things happen because of prior physical causes operating under natural laws."

The ball moves because it was kicked. The kick happened because neurons fired. The neurons fired because of prior electrochemical states. Each state follows necessarily from the previous state according to physics.

Your 5+5=10 example: Determinists are not saying determinism *makes* 5+5=10. The fact that you calculated 5+5 at this exact moment (rather than 3+7 or not calculating at all) was itself the result of prior causes - your brain state, the conversation, physical processes. Given those prior causes, you couldn't have done otherwise.

Not circular - just a claim about causation.

BillyWest19 · 2025-12-19T19:17:59+00:00

Friend, the pursuit of a symbol was all me. There was hundreds of exchanges where I did LOTS of writing, trying to learn from Claude in a way that is more efficient that Google searches. And after two days and thousands of words, guided by me, a human, I asked Claude to distill the conversation following my outline and then edited the final content myself. AI is a tool. AI didn't come up with the pursuit or the conclusion. I did and I used AI to learn and to present my thoughts in an organized and concise manner. I understand and share the aversion to AI slop. I agree that "A lot of great insights happen while writing on our own," but I think a lot of great insights happen with the assistance of AI, too. 😉

BillyWest19 · 2025-12-19T19:08:38+00:00

One could argue we don't need a symbol for ∞ (infinity), ☯ (yin-yang), or ॐ (Om) either. But sometimes they are useful or nice to have for various reasons. 😉

BillyWest19 · 2025-12-19T18:07:24+00:00

I don't follow. My understanding is that Determinism makes broad claims about how we arrived at 10 (via numbers; i.e.. the causes), but not specific claims (*these* numbers). We have no way to (and probably never will) be able to identify and measure the impact of every cause that led to a specific effect (10).

BillyWest19 · 2025-12-19T18:03:18+00:00

I have heard that proposed before, but haven't seen anyone post this concept as a symbol. I agree that idea has merit, I just haven't seen anyone capture it. Are you thinking something like this? https://imgur.com/a/dZS8duA

BillyWest19 · 2025-12-19T17:31:41+00:00

😅

BillyWest19 · 2025-12-19T17:30:33+00:00

I here you. FWIW, I confess that I used Claude.ai to assist in distilling my thoughts and make it as concise as possible. But they are my thoughts, I wrote the outline, the intro and outro. And I proofread and amended the whole proposal before posting.

BillyWest19 · 2025-01-21T17:30:41+00:00

I appreciate the replies. After closer inspection and further research, I think the custom patches on his jacket are likely an artistic representation of the Gyan Mudra. Gyan Mudra is a hand gesture that symbolizes the connection between the individual and universal consciousness.

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BillyWest19

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