"ethics are still a useful concept [in a deterministic universe]...we can choose to think about control differently...we may decide that punitive justice is pointless and unjust..."

I concur that punitive theories of justice make no sense in a deterministic universe, but rehabilitation is also futile: one cannot change a person whose nature has been predetermined, unless that change was itself predetermined. Seems to me a 'protective' theory of justice is the only logical expression of a deterministic universe - 'lock up all the bad people' to prevent them from harming the good people. Not a fan of that sort of reasoning, but it's a subtly hidden commitment underpinning everything from "three strikes" laws to gated communities.

But I will need to re-read Spinoza. Been a few decades and I'll admit to being quite rusty. Thank you for sharing your reading with the world.