So I'm having this philosophical debate with Skwiggletok.
Does everything happen because of the natural laws of the
universe or does everything happen for a reason? I side
with the former she sides with the latter.

I don't like the idea of fate but then what I would like to be true has nothing to do with what I believe. She likes the idea that everything even terrible things happen for a reason and that the universe is a great self righting machine.

A tree grows by a creek. I would say it's there because a seed fell there and it was fertile ground. She would say the seed fell there because it was meant to fall there. Trees produce oxygen and that means we can breath.

as I figure it trees evolved because there was an abundance of carbon dioxide for them to breath creating suitable living conditions. Then they made the atmosphere oxygen rich which made it so oxygen breathing life could evolve. Trees aren't there for us We're here because trees provide an opportunity for us to survive. Skwiggy would argue that the nitrogen rich atmosphere was here so that bacteria which produce carbon dioxide could evolve so that plants could evolve so that animals could evolve. I can't really disprove or refute that.

If everything happens for a reason though that means that there is no such thing as virtue. Nobody does anything good because of willpower and inner strength they do it because that is who the world made them into and that is what the universe meant for them to do. It essentially makes all actions meaningless. If you do something good it's really just an act of the universe and if you shoot yourself it was just the last thing you were fated to do.

As I said before. There is no way to prove or disprove anything. I'd rather believe I can change things but thats just it. The only reason to side with either opinion is what you as an individual WANT to believe. Or what you're fated to believe as the case may be