The Illusion of Free Will in a Deterministic Universe: An Analysis of 'Arrival' Dennis Odhiambo College

“If you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?” is a query made by the protagonist, Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams), in the film Arrival which provokes complex contemplations on determinism, free will, and fate. Does the knowledge of the future render free will as just an illusion? Or does it make determinism obsolete? The film follows the linguist Louise Banks and physician Ian Donnelly after enlistment by the U.S. Army to discover and conduct communications with aliens following their landing at the Montana site. They contact the seven-limbed aliens or heptapods and discover the complex writing system of nonlinear orthography that can bridge communications. Thus, they are tasked with deciphering the language similar to other specialists in other nations where the aliens have landed too. In the process through linguistic relativity Louise becomes capable to see her timeline in a non-linear manner hence can see the future, present, and past simultaneously. In the film’s deterministic universe, however, despite Louise’s knowledge of the future attributable to the nonlinear perception of time, she still makes the same choice despite the devastating future that lies ahead. Therefore, knowledge of the...