But aren't you suggesting that we all have some sort of post-birth 'predestination'?
No, I wouldn't call it that, as I explain further below.
That what we are/become, successful/failure, rich/poor, good/bad person are all a matter of things out of our control and more about thousands of inputs and influences as we live?
Yes, this is basically what I'm saying and what I believe.
In that case, the billionaire doesn't deserve praise and the murderer doesn't deserve blame as we are all driven by these lifetimes of influences. We essentially have no choice because, as you say like Bill Gates, "he really didn't choose any of that" and it is a function of our genes and influences that shape our decisions. No?
While I wouldn't call it "predestination", it does seem to me that all personal characteristics, such as work ethic, attitude, inventiveness, confidence, determination, are entirely due to happenstance. For example, my work ethic is due to a combination of my genetics (which gave me the brain I have) along with thousands of large and small influences and experiences I've had over the course of my life, from my parents, teachers, friends, and many others. I can't point to anything that shaped my work ethic as something that didn't originate within my brain (which I didn't choose and simply works the way it does) and that wasn't predicated and built upon a variety of external influences and events that I also didn't author.
I suppose it comes down to how you define things like "choice". An earlier post mentioned two brothers, one of whom became very successful while the other "chose" to become a spendthrift playboy. From my perspective, these brothers' decisions cannot be separated from the luck-based factors that made them who they are. They didn't choose their DNA, nor their childhood experiences and environment, nor the myriad of (random) experiences they had all along the way. All those things combined to lead one brother down the path of success and other to failure. Any "choices" they made were entirely due to the combination of their specific genetics with all their individual, unique life experiences and influences that formed their personalities. Having said that, though, I wouldn't call it predestination, because there are always random, unpredictable events in life that can and often do entirely change a person's life trajectory.
Anyway, just my two cents. Kind of a philosophical/theoretical musing that may be drifting a little OT.