### **Epistemic Status**
This is a structural hypothesis about value coherence under deterministic cognition—not a finished philosophical argument, but a work in progress. I’ve wrestled with this for years, and I’m sure there are gaps I’m missing. Posting it here to stress-test the idea.

### **Where This Started**
This didn’t come from metaphysics or mysticism. It began with a contradiction I couldn’t ignore.

A few years ago, I was arguing with friends about moral subjectivity. They claimed *all values are contingent*—yet spoke about autonomy and justice as if they were sacred. Something didn’t add up.

Later, reading Sam Harris on determinism, it hit me:
*If I didn’t create myself, how can values generated by that self claim authority?*

This isn’t just about free will. It’s about whether a mind built from un-chosen parts can ever ground meaning without circularity.

Descartes said, *"I think, therefore I am."*
But I kept circling back to:
*"I am thought, therefore I am not the thinker."*

My thoughts are real—but they emerge from machinery I didn’t design.

### **Core Problem**

#### **1. You Didn’t Build the Machine**
- Your cognition runs on hardware (genes) and software (culture) you didn’t choose.
- Even your meta-reasoning—the voice asking *"Is this logical?"*—is part of that inherited system.
- If the self is a black box of pre-set algorithms, how can its outputs be "authentic"?

#### **2. Minds Demand Anchors**
Despite this, we act as if *something* must be unconditionally valuable:
- Progressives treat justice as non-negotiable.
- Scientists worship truth even when it’s inconvenient.
- Nihilists treat meaninglessness as an absolute.

This isn’t spiritual. It’s structural—like a computer needing a bootloader.

#### **3. The Recursion Trap**
Modernity says: *"Create your own meaning!"*
But if the *self* is un-chosen, then self-generated values are circular:
- A program outputting values that justify its own code.
- A compass calibrated by its own magnetic field.

Even "reflectively coherent" values just shuffle the same deck.

#### **4. The Anomaly: Actions That Defy Self-Interest**
Some behaviors resist deterministic justifications:
- Dying for strangers.
- Cr...

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