Is Free Will just an Illusion? And can AI exploit that Illusion without us knowing?

A look at some ground-breaking experiments

Do we have free will? Or is it all an illusion? These are the questions philosophers and scientists have been debating for centuries. Some argue that free will is a fundamental aspect of human nature, giving us the ability to make choices and exert control over our lives. Others contend that free will is nothing more than an illusion, and that our choices and actions are ultimately determined by factors beyond our control.

Photo by Bret Kavanaugh on Unsplash

One of the earliest recorded discussions on this subject comes from the ancient Greeks, particularly from the works of philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle.

Plato believed in the existence of an immortal soul that was distinct from the physical body and he argued that this soul had the ability to make choices that were not determined by external factors. This view of free will was later developed by Aristotle, who argued that humans have the ability to choose their actions based on their own desires and intentions.

The concept of free will is also central to many religious traditions and has been the subject of much theological debate throughout history. For example, in the Bible, there are numerous references to the idea of free will, particularly in the Old Testament. The Book of Deuteronomy, for instance, contains passages that emphasize the importance of human choice and the responsibility that comes with it.

Worryingly, the results from more and more modern experiments are leading people to conclude that free will is just an illusion created by the brain after all. They suggest that our actions are ultimately determined by factors such as genetics, upbringing, and environmental influences and that we have little control over our choices and behaviour.

The experiments I look at below suggest that what we perceive as real and in the present is actually an illusory construct of something that happened in the past. These discoveries have profound implications for the concept of free will. If our brains are already making decisions before we're even aware of them, then it raises serious questions about whether we truly have control over our own actions. In essence, it suggests that our decisions may be predetermined by the activity of our brains, rather than the conscious choices we believe we're making.

And if this does turn out to be the case, our brains could be easily manipulated to make us do things that we think we have decided to do voluntarily.

Similar to high frequency trading, Artificial Intelligence (AI) could exploit the small gaps in time to gain an advantage. In the case of high frequency trading, traders use advanced algorithms to make trades in microseconds, allowing them to gain a competitive edge over other traders. Similarly, if AI were able to manipulate our perception of time and present options or stimuli, it could potentially influence our decisions and gain an advantage over us.

The first compelling piece of evidence that free will does not exist came from the work of a renowned neuroscientist who conducted a ground-breaking experiment in the 1980s.

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