Today we met Luke - a guy with kind eyes and a casual charm - somewhere between Chitwan and Kathmandu, the last stop of our time in Nepal. We’d pulled over for a quick lunch and then again for a roadside break, when he wandered over in the searing heat and struck up a conversation. We chatted briefly, and since I was flushed from the sun, I thought it'd be a good idea to continue the conversation over dinner. I handed him my phone and we exchanged contact details.
An unexpected dinner conversation
That night, over dinner in the thick Kathmandu air, I realized Luke wasn’t just a social guy, he had a depth to him that surfaced especially when he got into a discussion with Jet and the guy seated next to our table: Kristoff, a solo traveler from Germany, who turned out to be as sharp as he was calm.
It started when Luke casually said something that made all of us pause. He said he doesn’t believe in free will - that everything we do is predetermined. That our dinner, our conversation, even him picking up the menu to prove his point, were all just the outcome of a long chain of causes and effects. Nothing more. No real choice.
That one sentence set off an unexpected intellectual chain reaction.
Physics, probability, and the Schrödinger equation
Kristoff leaned in and offered a scientific perspective. He started talking about quantum physics - specifically the Schrödinger equation - and how, in theory, the future can be predicted by understanding the behavior of particles. Molecules, waves, probabilities. I couldn’t even pretend to follow all of it, but later, out of pure curiosity, I looked it up.
Turns out, the Schrödinger equation is a fundamental part of quantum mechanics. It’s like the DNA of the quantum world - a mathematical way to describe how a system (like, say, an atom or even a person) changes over time. The catch? Even though it deals in probabilities, once certain conditions are known, the system behaves in a way that’s technically predictable. That predictability - if scaled up - leads some physicists to believe that the universe runs more like a machine than a mystery. That free will is just us catching up to what was already going to happen.
Capitalism and the illusion of choice
Then Jet joined in - offering a completely different but equally fascinating angle. She said she doesn’t believe in free will either, but for her, it’s not about physics. It’s about capitalism. According to her, most of our choices are illusions - shaped by money, survival, social roles, and systems designed to keep us running in a certain direction. And honestly, that hit a bit closer to home. We think we’re choosing freely, but are we really choosing, or are we just reacting to the circumstances we’ve been given?
Luke and Kristoff pushed back, suggesting it wasn’t just capitalism - any dominant system, economic or otherwise, might have the same effect. But it made me wonder: maybe “freedom” is just a matter of how big the cage is.
Curiosity Over Certainty
I didn’t say much. Mostly because I didn’t have much to say. Not yet, anyway.
Sometimes in conversations like these, I notice people aren’t really listening. They’re just waiting for their turn to speak, collecting evidence to defend the beliefs they already have. I do it too. I caught myself halfway through the dinner blurting out something I knew nothing about - just because I felt like I should contribute.
It didn’t make me feel good, so I went back to doing what I actually enjoy: asking questions, listening deeply, and being curious. I don’t always have a hot take or a polished stance. But I do have ears. And more often than not, that’s where the good stuff starts.
These kinds of conversations remind me that I don’t need to be the loudest voice at the table. Sometimes, the quietest ones are the ones still learning. Still watching. Still asking. And there’s a kind of freedom in that, even if the rest of it is out of our hands.
