Human beings define themselves as the legislators of their own lives. From the morning menu to the major turning points of existence, we blindly believe that every choice is the doing of an independent subject called the self. This myth of “free will” is the last bastion supporting the legal responsibility and moral pride built by humanity. Under the cold gaze of modern science, however, this myth degenerates into a mere post-hoc interpretation of a sophisticatedly programmed biological mechanism.
The Powerless Narration of the Spokesperson Called the Self
Discussions in neuroscience have long since passed a death sentence on human autonomy. The data repeated since Benjamin Libet’s experiments are brutally clear. Seconds before consciousness decides on an action, the brain’s neural circuitry has already completed its execution.
We believe that “I chose,” but in reality, the self is nothing more than a spokesperson that receives a report of what the brain has already done and attaches a plausible reason to it. It is like a commander with no authority comforting themselves by looking at soldiers already on the march and saying, “I ordered that.” Ultimately, consciousness is not the cause of a choice, but merely a narration of the result.
The Shackles of the Algorithm: The Collusion of Hormones and Genes
Our judgments are never made in a vacuum. The concentration of hormones flowing through our blood vessels and the levels of neurotransmitters dictate the horizon of our thoughts. The “free” decisions we make under stress are, in fact, the forced executions of survival circuits designed by cortisol, and epigenetic information carved with past memories has already narrowed down the options available to us.
Humans are highly advanced computing devices that produce optimal biological outputs in response to environmental inputs. The weight of the “will” we feel is highly likely the product of an exquisite inevitability woven together by physical laws and biological probability.
A Noble Deception Invented for Survival
Should free will, then, be discarded as trash? Paradoxically, this illusion is highly useful from an evolutionary perspective. The sense that one is in control of one’s life—the conviction of a “locus of control”—prevents an organism’s helplessness and maximizes its motivation for survival. Social systems are also built upon this illusion. The moment the belief that humans decide their own actions is stripped away, legal punishment and moral condemnation lose their logical foundation and collapse.
Ultimately, free will is not an existing physical quantity, but a “necessary deception” collectively adopted by the human species to maintain social bonds and individual vitality.
Humans are prisoners dreaming of freedom inside the sturdy jail of physical determinism. Yet, at the very moment we dissect this elaborate blueprint ourselves and ask, “Am I truly free?”, a microscopic crack appears in the chain of mechanical reactions.
Even if free will is an illusion that does not exist, the very act of staring that illusion in the face and agonizing over the limitations of the system still possesses a human sublimity. We may be walking on a predetermined path, but it is only by questioning that the path is determined that we finally begin to betray the destiny of the machine.
he Intellectual Property of Min Jinseong
From chronological traces to algorithmic artifacts.
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