The Philosophy of Mr. Nobody – How To Make Meaningful Choices

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Nobody, Nemo Nobody. The year is 2092, humanity has finally achieved immortality. In this strange new world, all eyes are focused on Nemo Nobody, the last mortal human being, who is slowly edging towards death.

Do you remember what the world was like before quasi-immortality? What was it like when humans were mortals? Little is known about Nemo, and any attempts to uncover who he is, or where he came from, keep leading to a multitude of contradictory stories.

For example, we learn that, as a young boy, Nemo’s parents split up, and he had to choose who he wanted to stay with. Nemo! It seems, he chose both.

I'm sorry, I don't understand. Did you stay with your father or go with your mother? It is but the first of many decisions that cause Nemo’s history to fracture and diverge into multiple timelines; he gives a love letter, he doesn’t give a love letter, he becomes a photographer, and a TV personality, he marries Elise, Jean and Anne, he drowns in his car, is killed by a meteorite, and executed by mobsters.

The result is a rather confusing collection of alternative realities that are even further complicated by being framed through the complex physics of time and space. And yet, I believe that, at the center of it all, all this complexity serves one single purpose, one fundamental question; how do we make meaningful choices? To answer this question, we first have to answer several others, for starters; why do we have to make choices at all?

What was there before the Big Bang? Well, you see, there was no before, because before the Big Bang, time did not exist. In various informational interludes, Nemo discusses the nature of the universe.

He explains that after the Big Bang, 3 spatial dimensions and 1 temporal dimension were deployed, and while these spatial dimension allow us to freely move within what we know as width, height and depth, the temporal dimension doesn’t offer that same freedom. Time, as we know it, is a dimension we experience only in one direction. This is also referred to as the arrow of time, which is closely related to the principle of entropy; the movement from order to disorder as a result of the expansion of the universe.

The smoke comes out of daddy's cigarette, but it never goes back in. We can immediately see how this one-directional movement places a burden on our decision-making; We cannot go back, that’s why it’s hard to choose. But what is the right choice?

What makes one choice more meaningful over another? This question can only really be answered if there is such a thing as meaning, something to serve as an anchor against which to weigh our options and base our decisions. However, looking to the universe for such a guiding light is likely to leave you disappointed.

Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect? The butterfly effect is a part of chaos theory, suggesting that a small change in one state can result in larger differences in a later state. And as we see in many of Nemo’s timelines, this causal reaction often undermines our own agency, although of course, we generally experience this phenomenon as random chance, bringing us either good fortune, or bad luck.

You wanna know why I lost Anna? Because 2 months earlier, an unemployed Brazilian boiled an egg. In the opening scene, we are also presented with an experiment in which a pigeon is given a treat every 20 seconds.

The researchers discovered that if the pigeon happened to be flapping its wings when given the treat, it would continue to do so, convinced its actions are what caused it. This phenomenon, which is referred to as pigeon superstition, further emphasizes the dissonance between how we perceive causality, and how the universe actually works. In other words, we may believe our choices and actions affect the world in a certain way, but in reality we know very little about what forces move our lives into certain directions.

It is why, whenever something unexpected happens, be it good or bad, we are left wondering; what did I do to deserve this? Well, it's important for you to understand that in life, things don’t always turn out as we plan them. Life isn’t always what we think it will be.

So what does all this imply for our ability to make meaningful choices? How can we make informed decisions if we cannot even oversee all the variables? It is perhaps why we long for immortality, for infinite time to figure out the right path and infinite chances to correct ourselves if we take a wrong turn.

But I think this is where we have to consider Nemo’s gift, for Nemo is not like everyone else. Remember the day you came here. Remember.

The film shows that before we are born, we are omniscient, we already know everything. And that when we are send into our mortal forms, the Angels of Oblivion erase our memories. Nemo however, was passed over by the angels, and came into being with the memories of all of his timelines, and all of the possible outcomes to his decisions.

So Nemo, have you made up your mind? Do you want to come with me or do you want to stay with your father? And so, when faced with an impossible choice; Nemo, unlike us, is able to consider every possible path.

But as it turns out, this doesn’t make his decision any easier. Before, he was unable to make a choice, now that he knows what will happen, he is unable to make a choice. Instead of being illuminated, Nemo’s knowledge of every possible path only seems to paralyze him, leading him to believe there’s only one option left; In chess, it's called Zugzwang, when the only viable move, is not to move.

By not choosing any path, he argues that all of them remain open; As long as you don't choose, everything remains possible. But this isn’t exactly true, because in a universe confined by one temporal dimension that demands decision-making, we cannot not choose. We cannot remove ourselves from the arrow of time, at least not without deconstructing the fabric of time and space itself, which is why I believe the timeline where Nemo doesn’t make a move is the one that results in a sort of paradox where Nemo defies the rules of his own existence, and truly becomes nobody.

I'm Mr Nobody, a man who doesn't exist. The point is that when faced with a difficult choice, knowing everything that will happen is just as paralyzing as not knowing what will happen. It is here that philosopher Ruth Chang exposes a fundamental flaw in how we approach decision-making.

Basically, she explains that we tend to make choices by weighing alternatives against each other, and judging whether one option is better than, equal to, or worse than another. And while this may be a reasonable approach for easier decisions, when it comes to the hard choices in our lives, where do we live? Who do we marry?

what career do we pursue? This approach often falls short. We need to introduce a new, fourth relation beyond being better, worse or equal, that describes what's going on in hard choices.

I like to say that the alternatives are "on a par. " When alternatives are on a par, it may matter very much which you choose, but one alternative isn't better than the other. Rather, the alternatives are in the same neighborhood of value, while at the same time being very different in kind of value.

That's why the choice is hard. What distinguishes these kind of choices is that they do not become easier even if the outcomes are clearer. Nemo’s omniscience showed him every possible path, but this couldn’t tell him if the love for his mother was more valuable than the love for his father, it couldn’t tell him if the heartbreak from Anna leaving was worse than that of Elise’s depression, in short; it couldn’t tell him which path was the right path, and here lies the crux of the problem; we are searching for meaning outside of ourselves, for external reasons to support these difficult decisions.

You don't know me Nemo, you've always been elsewhere. This approach is not only bound to leave us empty-handed when we cannot make a choice, it can also leave us unfulfilled when we do make one. I'm going to marry the first girl who dances with me tonight.

In one timeline, Nemo gets rejected by Elise, and he approaches Jean for no other reason than to make Elise jealous. Later he, mostly out of frustration, vows never to leave anything to chance again. Determined to become rich and successful, he achieves every goal he set for himself, but ends up so bored and unhappy that, in an ultimate act of submission to external forces, he makes the remainder of his decisions based on a coin flip.

It is therefore that Ruth Chang argues that when engaging difficult choices, we shouldn’t look outward, we should look inward. We should exercise our normative power; the power to create reasons for ourselves. We can put our very selves behind an option.

This response in hard choices is a rational response, but it's not dictated by reasons given to us. Rather, it's supported by reasons created by us. Note that this isn’t necessarily about making hard choices easier, it’s about recognizing that there is no right path.

Every path is the right path. Everything could've been anything else. And it would have just as much meaning.

And so instead of desperately searching the universe for guidance, for that one sign or reasonable argument telling us what we should do, it is we ourselves who have to make our choices meaningful. So the lesson of hard choices: reflect on what you can put your agency behind, on what you can be for, and through hard choices, become that person. This is no easy task, even if we believe we are on the right path, there will be mistakes, there will be sorrow.

This can’t go on. Together we can do it. We all experience moments of regret, moments where we feel life has passed us by, where we long for that reset button to give us another chance; another chance to say what we really meant, to show courage when we were afraid, to be the person we really wanted to be.

But if we truly act from the heart, if we base our decisions on our innermost voices, we will also experience something else. We will find that if we want to, if we choose to, it is possible to love, to be loved, and to experience moments of genuine happiness, moments in which it becomes absolutely clear that, even if it is for a brief instance in an infinite universe, our lives can be profoundly meaningful. I’m not afraid of dying, I’m afraid I haven't been alive enough.

It should be written on every schoolroom blackboard; life is a playground, or nothing. And this is what I've been waiting for, all this time, renouncing all possible lives, for one only, with you. Choices are stressful, and in a society that offers you infinite options, it’s nice to have a little break and not worry about the small things, like what film to watch next.

It is for this reason that I’ve really been enjoying MUBI. Unlike other streaming platforms, MUBI is an online cinema that takes away the stress of having to consider endless options as they do the choosing for you. Every day, they present a new film, and every day, they take one away.

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