The Illusion of Choice

[xiin]

If I were to give you the choice, between having a slice of delicious cake, and being punched in the stomach, what would you chose? For most of us, the choice of the cake is pretty obvious. After all, not only do you avoid the pain, you get to do something pleasant (assuming you like to eat cake). It's a pretty straightforward question, yet, I

Comments

[mantid]

It is nearly funny the way that a lot of people will repeatedly and inescapably. Of course, there are few situations that present themselves as "tea and cake or death". Many decisions involve vast unknowns and possibilities, as human beings are capable only of receiving very small pieces of information about any particular situation. Of course, one could try to polarize life so that things correspond either to Pain or Pleasure, often taking the form of 'Right' and 'Wrong'; but of course, such dichotomy cannot stand.

That is not to say that it will not last and persevere: Religion and even darker philosophies have provided well for their own continuance. However, such things cannot last in the long term, since they conflict with reason and the observable. Of course, that just means that as new information and ideas become available, new subversions also become available to keep the power dynamic unbalanced. Unlike economics, psychological repression seems to trickle down well.

One may think of a situation like a battered woman who may have the choice to leave her partner, and even, perhaps, for a better one, but will not necessarily make that decision. This does not argue against predestination, but represents a situation where the inability to choose stems not from pleasure over pain, but from some other source. Humans can and often do seek less beneficial situations for a variety of reasons, including a vast array of cognitive biases.

Of course, as far as democracy is concerned, we are in the thrall of another power structure which we cannot countermand despite popular power, because of all those cognitive and social biases (and fears). We also fall into the trap of too little information, because knowing the wills of another person is prohibitively difficult. Even those we have known for many years can surprise and disappoint us, or even make a fundamental change. Of course, we can look at voting records and espoused opinions, but it takes a lot of work and knowledge to keep track of such things accurately.

Of course, it also doesn't help that the very issues and concepts by which we try to decide who we favor are complex and difficult to come to a (rational) conclusion about. Not that most people seem to be bothered by whether their opinions are supportable.