Do you believe in fate or destiny?

[HawkPerception]

My unpopular opinion is that fate dictates our lives. Since birth, we're wired to react to certain scenarios in our unique way. The way we learn, process information and form our views... it's all predetermined. Think of life as one big explosion. Ever since the big bang, atoms and molecules had their paths set and all of the ways they react with each other could also be calculated. Even when life is formed, the reaction of all of the biology in every organism and their electromagnetic waves could also be predetermined. Of course the math is too complicated for humans to calculate, but it's still very logical.

I know some people may hate me for saying that none of their choices are their own. But I genuinely believe that free will is an illusion.

Fate. Our lives are predetermined

Destiny. We control our own lives

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

The analyst in me says "fate". At least the burden of proof from my perspective is on anyone claiming that our behaviors are caused by something immaterial/supernatural when everything we know and can replicate in our tests about the universe suggests that all things we know so far about it can be traced back to natural causes. So for our will to be free of natural causes is the bold claim that defies everything we know to be true about the natural world, and I find no evidence to even suggest it let alone demonstrate make it the most likely explanation.

However, I'm not an analyst. I'm a hardcore pragmatist. The value of knowledge to me is measured by its utility, not its verifiability. So I voted "Destiny".

It's most useful to believe we have control over our actions and the corresponding responsibility over them. It improves our lives. So it's the most useful way to think from my perspective even if it's all just an illusion.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

[*] [...] and I find no evidence to even suggest it let alone demonstrate [in ways that] make it the most likely explanation.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

I'm much more an engineer than scientist that way, prioritizing pragmatic truths over scientific truths. For example, even if I believe something that is contradictory to structural engineering in ways that allow me to construct the world's tallest building, that is the most true belief to me is whatever lets me construct the world's tallest building. If that's somehow at odds with science, then the pragmatic truth wins out to me.

[Drew-1990]

I think it's a mix honestly. Mostly it is all choices but I think sometimes there is somewhere we are supposed to be but there are different roads that can lead us there based on our decisions. But this is not our whole life just certain things and not every will have that, I think most are all decision based.

[DizzyDesii]

I believe we were given the free will to make our own choices. But i still believe God is in control of where we end up. We can take lots of paths and go up hill and fall back down. But God can always lift us back up and lure us to the right path. I feel we may choose which we take and where we go, but he ultimately decides when things happen and if they end (life/death, suicide aside). Thats just my beliefs. If people believe in something different, then I’m gonna let them go on about their day

[IslaTheWitch]

I believe in neither fate nor destiny. I believe in the freedom to make choices and bear the consequences.

[HawkPerception]

That's destiny.

[IslaTheWitch]

Definitions from Oxford Languages
destiny /ˈdɛstɪni/ noun

the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future.
"she was unable to control her own destiny"

the hidden power believed to control future events; fate.
"he believed in destiny"

[FreyaRed]

It's chaos that we try to control with less or more success. Belief in destiny is wish think and believing in fate is mostly fatalism, the real way is none of them both.

[exitseven]

I think that we have to make our own choice. Although i had an uncle who was a WW2 vet. He used to say fate favors the guy that digs the deepest foxhole.

[genericname85]

there's things in life that are predetermined and there's things we can control.

for example our death is fate. but our choice of lunch is destiny.

[Sonorous]

I really can't help but believe in determinism to a large degree.

[douride2]

in my opinion life is all about the choices we make. Sadly it seems many people are making the wrong decisions.

[aceleon]

both exists

there are things you can't control, they are bound to happen, predetermined and set in stone.

and things that you can control.

[Paris13]

Everything up This Point in my Life I leave in God's Hands and Do Not Question. xxoo

[strateguy632]

not personal fate. we can choose and go various directions..

[strateguy632]

also the definition of fate IS destiny! same thing.

[Dargil]

There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.

[NathanDavis]

both can happen at the same time

[Wise4myage]

Definitely destiny.