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English
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Published:
2026-05-02
Completed:
2026-05-20
Words:
50,551
Chapters:
7/7
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Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person

Summary:

Two years after the Unjoining, she saw Zosia in London, of all places – nearly unrecognizable in her winter attire – bundled up to her nose. But Carol felt her presence like a sawed-off shotgun wound to her stomach. The sight of her eyes peeking over the edge of her scarf, sparkling with mirth as she shouldered the woman she was walking with –

Well, it was fucking devastating.

‘Who is Carol?’ Spray-painted in canary yellow, stood out against the rain-darkened concrete of the building across the street from The Ritz where Carol was staying.

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

Notes:

Okay, so this is seven chapters. They are finished. It comes out to about 50k+, pending any additional final edits. This fic (somehow) is very philosophy heavy (I am not a philosopher, nor have I taken any philosophy courses, I just like research), and with my dear friend Louise's help, things should hopefully make sense.

This theme was basically just chosen for Maxium Pain and Suffering for Carol specifically. Because Lol. But, yeah, no actual working knowledge of philosophy is necessary. You just have to want to see Carol suffer a little more. Also obligatory fuck AI mention here :)

Chapter one is the intro, formatted like an article Zosia would have written Post-Joining. It is also an outline for the fic. The thesis statement, if you will, because I heart being meta. The philosophy quotes throughout should be taken almost as Zosia's POV.

Chapter two picks up in Carol's POV.

Chapter Text

Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person:

Reflections on Hume, Harry G. Frankfurt’s Seminal Work (1971), and Other Base Philosophical Texts Post-Joining

Dr. Zofia Wójcik

This article will examine our canonical understanding of compatibilism as it relates to free will and determinism through the lens of a “Post-Joined society” (as coined by Huovinen, 2025). A fundamental revision to the understanding of the typical accounts of “free will” prior to mass-synchronization is necessary in order to comprehend the consequences of distributed decision making. As we currently stand, there is no pathology for these appropriated conjoint accords, nor the structures that had been fabricated over invisible frequencies. More questions than answers seem to arise as the search only delves deeper into the moral dilemmas that are no longer fictional “what ifs”, but rather a narrative that has already been closed. 

Even with the words of Hume, Frankfurt, Strawson, Kane, Griffin, as well as contemporaries such as Pereboom, we are faced with a lack of precise language to describe the Joining phenomenon in clear and certain terms. This article will attempt to bridge the gap between theory Pre-Joining and the reality of the  Post-Joining experience. A reframing of our understanding of “responsibility” is necessary as it no longer lies with the isolated agent, but with the collective as an entity with intrinsically agreed upon overlapping spheres of purpose. Treating the collective, even as it acts as “One”, as a singular should be considered a grave error in the framework of our new reality. 

  1. INTRODUCTION 

  2. CAN THE BELIEF IN FREE WILL BE JUSTIFIED RATIONALLY?

    1. Twelve steps towards absolution 

    2. Triviality

    3. Moral resentment

  3. REACTIVE ATTITUDES AND INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS 

    1. Privacy

      1. Within the mind

      2. Outside the body 

    2. Truth telegraphed through observable actions

  4. GUILT, REPENTANCE, AND CULPABILITY 

    1. Pathologizing misbehavior 

    2. Control over the uncontrollable

      1. A return to vice

      2. Shame and consequence

    3. New systems masquerading as the old

  5. ADDICTION AND AUTONOMY

    1. The pleasure of loss

    2. Replacement habituation

    3. Restraint as opposed to discipline 

    4. An expiration

  6. THE TRAUMA OF THE “FREE MAN”

    1. Simulacrum of the self

      1. An identity forms

      2. Challenging beliefs 

      3. Resignation

  7. CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION 

A thread of questioning will be introduced as a methodology to which “free will”, as defined by determinists such as… (continued on page 511)

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