[lost_my_pwd]

Then it really does not matter.

If everything we do is predetermined from the instant of our conception — actually much further back than that since all events leading up to one's conception were also predetermined — then we are all going to still do what we do, which includes judging others by their actions. If some choose not to apply guilt or blame to others, well, then that was also in the cards.

If there is some variable or factor outside our measurable environment that provides for truly free will, then it does make sense for people to be judged based on their actions and for guilt and blame to be applied in appropriate cases.

Applied more generally, if there is no free will then whether an individual believes there is free will does not matter; the deterministic environment decides that matter. If there is free will, then there is a distinct advantage to understanding and believing that fact. So, assuming there is free will has a neutral and upside state, while buying into determinism has a neutral and downside state. Isn't the rational and safe position to just assume there is free will?

[nota_bene]

> If some choose not to apply guilt or blame to others, well, then that was also in the cards.

Correct. Like this discussion and everything logically was also "in the cards". So, yes, in a sense "it does not matter", while it still does.

> If there is free will, then there is a distinct advantage to understanding and believing that fact.

The issue is that you see an "advantage" in free will. I suppose you mean that free will would make you more powerful because you would not believe that you "can't change things", etc. This belief however is false. It's not logical. Even if we understand that there is no free will, we are still going to make "our own decisions" based on all the variables in our lives. The vastness of the variables in our networks is such that it can never be measured and modeled entirely. It is simply too complex for us to understand, which means that it will never feel like a network of causes and effects. So our choices will always feel like our own, and that is good enough for us, it seems. For example, I'm still going to try to create useful products and believe I can become successful, because that's what motivates me, that's part of my "variables".

[lost_my_pwd]

The advantage is that one does not come to the conclusion that there's no point in assigning guilt/blame and merit to an individual's actions.

At the very least there's no harm in assuming free will and it is a much less depressing outlook on life and the nature of existence.