{"id":743,"date":"2018-01-29T19:29:45","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T19:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/?p=743"},"modified":"2025-02-15T09:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T09:51:08","slug":"you-are-free-even-while-freedom-is-an-illusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/cognitive-insights\/you-are-free-even-while-freedom-is-an-illusion","title":{"rendered":"You Are Free Even while Freedom Is an Illusion"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Freedom has multiple aspects.<\/h3>\n<p>In a previous post, I described how you can <em>feel <\/em>free [see: \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog?p=740\">In Defense of Free Will<\/a>\u2019]. While this is a nice feeling, <em>are<\/em> you indeed really free? A determinist says: no.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Does determinism annihilate free will?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s define determinism for now as the idea that everything in the universe is theoretically predictable. One \u2018only\u2019 needs to know a complete state of the universe at one moment in order to be able to predict the next state. Everything you do, can thus be predicted by previous states. You too as a total person are pre-determined. This is: you are not really free. There is strictly no \u2018free will\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><strong>But it feels so different\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That is because there are so many dimensions involved. Any of these may be pre-determined, but with so many options and no knowledge of what the next move will be \u2013 directly related to complexity \u2013 does it still matter? Theoretically, you are \u2018free\u2019 in proportion to a <em>double<\/em> complexity:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>to inside: the complexity of yourself<\/li>\n<li>to outside: the complexity of your interactions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A choice at any dimension within these two complexities can be influenced by many others, not bound within that one dimension. Theoretically, determinism on many variables is as deterministic as determinism on only one. But it\u2019s less obvious. Is it therefore less relevant?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ha! Or let\u2019s go to what freedom has always meant.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For millennia, people didn\u2019t want to be free <em>in a deterministic sense<\/em>. They didn\u2019t even think about determinism. Of course, you can be a bird in a golden cage and feel free because you don\u2019t know any other way. Striving for such a feeling is not exactly OK\u2026 For one thing, it\u2019s almost an invitation to being abused. However\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Historically, the feeling of freedom was about \u2018not being bound by the will of others.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For instance: a country being invaded by another country and so having to bend to that country\u2019s rules\u2026 Or people having to bend to a dictator, or to social rules that they do not see as their own. A democracy can be seen as a society in which people feel that the rules are made by and for <em>them<\/em>. Relevant to this is also the degree to which people can identify with that society as a whole. For instance, in the democratic voting process, people abide by the votes of the \u2018winners\u2019 because they can still identify enough even if they are the \u2018losers\u2019. Without this identification, there is not really a democracy but a continuous fight between separate groups within a bigger entity. You see the difference?<\/p>\n<p><strong>In the end, complexity saves freedom<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A choice is not free if it is random (the dice give no choice) nor if it is deterministic (a strict law gives no choice), nor if it is \u2018probabilistic\u2019 (statistics give no choice). Otherwise, a choice does <em>abide to the historical concept of freedom<\/em> even in a deterministic universe if it \u2018comes out of you.\u2019 Sheer complexity makes it so. Thus, you are entitled to it. \u2018Growing\u2019 as a person brings more space in which to be free. <strong>This \u2018freedom\u2019, even if it is theoretically an illusion in a fully determined universe, is of immense value. So, better keep it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Apart from this, we don\u2019t even know about universal determinism. Hidden non-deterministic freedom may be present anywhere. We just don\u2019t know. Should we care?<\/p>\n<div data-object_id=\"743\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkwrap cbxwpbkmarkwrap_no_cat cbxwpbkmarkwrap-post \"><a  data-redirect-url=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743\"  data-display-label=\"0\" data-show-count=\"0\" data-bookmark-label=\" \"  data-bookmarked-label=\" \"  data-loggedin=\"0\" data-type=\"post\" data-object_id=\"743\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarktrig  cbxwpbkmarktrig-button-addto\" title=\"Bookmark This\" href=\"#\"><span class=\"cbxwpbkmarktrig-label\"  style=\"display:none;\" > <\/span><\/a> <div  data-type=\"post\" data-object_id=\"743\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguestwrap\" id=\"cbxwpbkmarkguestwrap-743\"><div class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguest-message\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguesttrig_close\"><\/a><h3 class=\"cbxwpbookmark-title cbxwpbookmark-title-login\">Please login to bookmark<\/h3>\n\t\t<form name=\"loginform\" id=\"loginform\" action=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-login.php\" method=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-username\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"user_login\">Username or Email Address<\/label>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"log\" id=\"user_login\" class=\"input\" value=\"\" size=\"20\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-password\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"user_pass\">Password<\/label>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"password\" name=\"pwd\" id=\"user_pass\" class=\"input\" value=\"\" size=\"20\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-remember\"><label><input name=\"rememberme\" type=\"checkbox\" id=\"rememberme\" value=\"forever\" \/> Remember Me<\/label><\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-submit\">\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" name=\"wp-submit\" id=\"wp-submit\" class=\"button button-primary\" value=\"Log In\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"redirect_to\" value=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/form><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Freedom has multiple aspects. In a previous post, I described how you can feel free [see: \u2018In Defense of Free Will\u2019]. While this is a nice feeling, are you indeed really free? A determinist says: no. Does determinism annihilate free will? Let\u2019s define determinism for now as the idea that everything in the universe is <a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/cognitive-insights\/you-are-free-even-while-freedom-is-an-illusion\">Read the full article&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n<div data-object_id=\"743\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkwrap cbxwpbkmarkwrap_no_cat cbxwpbkmarkwrap-post \"><a  data-redirect-url=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743\"  data-display-label=\"0\" data-show-count=\"0\" data-bookmark-label=\" \"  data-bookmarked-label=\" \"  data-loggedin=\"0\" data-type=\"post\" data-object_id=\"743\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarktrig  cbxwpbkmarktrig-button-addto\" title=\"Bookmark This\" href=\"#\"><span class=\"cbxwpbkmarktrig-label\"  style=\"display:none;\" > <\/span><\/a> <div  data-type=\"post\" data-object_id=\"743\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguestwrap\" id=\"cbxwpbkmarkguestwrap-743\"><div class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguest-message\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguesttrig_close\"><\/a><h3 class=\"cbxwpbookmark-title cbxwpbookmark-title-login\">Please login to bookmark<\/h3>\n\t\t<form name=\"loginform\" id=\"loginform\" action=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-login.php\" method=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-username\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"user_login\">Username or Email Address<\/label>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"log\" id=\"user_login\" class=\"input\" value=\"\" size=\"20\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-password\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"user_pass\">Password<\/label>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"password\" name=\"pwd\" id=\"user_pass\" class=\"input\" value=\"\" size=\"20\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-remember\"><label><input name=\"rememberme\" type=\"checkbox\" id=\"rememberme\" value=\"forever\" \/> Remember Me<\/label><\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-submit\">\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" name=\"wp-submit\" id=\"wp-submit\" class=\"button button-primary\" value=\"Log In\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"redirect_to\" value=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/form><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[30,93],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/74.jpg?fit=962%2C559&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Fdiq-bZ","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1611,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743\/revisions\/1611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}