Meditations on free will
Free will is a concept that has long puzzled philosophers, theologians, and scientists alike. At its core, free will is the idea that individuals possess the agency to make non-deterministic choices. This concept raises the question of which comes first: Reason or Passion?
Exploration — From savanna to jungle
One way to think about free will is to visualize the brain as a savanna. At the beginning of life, the savanna is full of tall grass that has not yet been walked on. As we start to explore the world and our surroundings, we metaphorically walk through this grass, bending it, and unconsciously creating hiking trails.
This process is similar to how our brain matures. There is a famous rhyme in Neuroscience to remember this concept:
“Neurons that fire together, wire together”
When we perform a specific action or have a particular thought, a set loop of neurons (pathway) light up. The more frequently these pathways are used, the stronger the connections between them become. For example, by playing a lot of golf, your swing will become almost instinctive — muscle memory. The same holds true for cognitive tasks.
On the other hand, if these pathways are not regularly used, the connections between those neurons will weaken, and undergo atrophy.
“Neurons that fire out of sync will lose their link”
Similarly, in the savanna analogy, the more you walk a specific path, the more paved it becomes. However, as you stop walking it, vegetation will slowly grow back over it. In essence, you are born with a very malleable brain. One where you easily create trails by crawling through the grass. As you mature, a web of paved roads and trails will emerge and the vegetation morphs from a grassy savanna into a denser jungle.
It is important to note that as Baruch Spinoza emphasizes in his writings, the environment plays a significant role in shaping the actions we take, and, as a result, the trails we create in our savanna/jungle. The influence of the environment is particularly strong early on in our life. A time when we are still exploring the pliable savanna.
Path of least resistance — Deterministic autopilot
Essentially, your brain is a large box that takes in sensory “inputs”, and generates impulses in the form of thoughts and actions as “output”.
Our brain unconsciously follows the path of least resistance through the web of pathways in your mental jungle, much like how a bolt of lightning will choose the path of least resistance when striking the earth. The more paved the road is, the higher the likelihood the lighting will take that pathway, and deliver a related impulse in the form of a thought or action.
This input → output process is almost the definition of a deterministic machine on autopilot — no free will!
Plato wouldn’t be happy to hear this. According to him, reason and the mind should ultimately control our actions and decisions. In Plato’s philosophy, the rational part of the soul (the mind) is in charge of governing the other parts of the soul, including the spirited part (which is responsible for feelings of anger, pride, and ambition).
The loop is much more in line with David Hume’s view who takes the opposite stance of Plato on reason:
“Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them”
Hume’s perspective suggests that sensory inputs fly through our brain’s jungle and generate near-instant thoughts and or action impulses. Cognitive dissonance is nature’s tool that fools most of us, including Plato. It makes humans incredibly good at unconsciously spinning “logical-sounding narratives” to frame the incoming sensory stimuli. We’re not just masters of convincing others of those narratives, but also ourselves. Interacting in the world is essentially a high-frequency game of cognitive dissonance.
The answer — Not binary
However, I will argue that we have a small locus of free will on top of this deterministic machine. One which has real ownership beyond the illusionary narratives created by cognitive dissonance.
This locus of free will has appeared in many different forms and sizes over the years. Two analogies I particularly liked are Daniel Kahneman’s level 1 and level 2 thinking, as well as the Elephant and Rider by Jonathan Haidt. Both take a dual approach, synthesizing Plato’s reason and Hume’s passions (=our deterministic jungle).
The Elephant represents the autopilot that is zapped by the deterministic machine. More specifically, as the sensory inputs shoot through our jungle maze, a stimulus is created that makes the elephant charge off in a certain direction. This is also symbolized by Daniel Kahneman’s “Level 1 Thinking”. Instant, intuitive, and largely outside of our control.
The rider in this analogy represents Plato’s reason. It has the ability to steer the elephant that he sits on. However, its power is a mere shadow of what Plato had in mind. This rider also embodies Kahneman’s “level 2 thinking,” which is more rational, and reflective, but requires significant cognitive work and willpower.
Verdict — Take action, be compassionate
Where do we now stand in the chicken and egg game of free will? Plato believed Reason comes first. However, modern research is more aligned with David Hume’s view that our passions come first, i.e. goodbye free will. I subscribe to the latter but don’t believe the free will answer is binary. The impulse of our deterministic machine comes first, and ~90% of the time we probably let the elephant react and fool ourselves through cognitive dissonance. We should, however, not underestimate Haidt’s rider and Kahneman’s level 2 thinking to steer against the impulse at the expense of higher cognitive load.
The good news is that there are ways to enhance the power of the rider and, in essence, regain more free will.
- You can deal with it downstream by observing these impulses and actively choosing to react to them or not. In other words, training your rider. Practices from Eastern philosophies have several useful tools such as mindfulness, which focuses on shining a light on the elephant’s urges. Observing them without automatically translating them into action. Additionally, actively going against the desires of the “feeling brain” as Mark Manson calls it, can also be a way to increase the power of the rider over our actions and choices. For example, acts of consciously choosing to take uncomfortable cold showers.
- Instead of just taming the elephant, you can also go upstream and actively shape your jungle such that the elephant is zapped with productive stimuli. You can do this by stepping outside your comfort zone and slashing new trails in the jungle. As you repeatedly walk this path new avoid the old one, vegetation will reclaim the latter and the former will become paved.
In the end, we are not fully, but largely deterministic. Our environment shapes trails and highways in our brain. These then become self-fulfilling prophecies as we ride those highways more and more out of convenience. Sensory inputs then shoot through this maze and zap your elephant with an initial impulse. The elephant consequently sprints in a set direction.
Free will enters the picture in the form of the rider who either brings the elephant back on track or even stops it from running off in the first place. A skill that can be trained by consciously going against your impulses. A strong and vigilant rider can control the elephant, but as default, the elephant dictates the initial direction. You can deal with this by slashing new pathways through the jungle and letting vegetation reclaim some of our destructive highways.
The main takeaway is surprisingly simple, mainstream and yet profound:
“You are in control of your own future. Fake it till you ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶ become it.”
You have the power to change the deterministic system that powers most of your actions!
Our behaviour is largely driven by the layout of our Jungle. A layout that is heavily influenced by our environment, especially during our childhood. I hope those insights help to both understand yourself and gain greater empathy for (miss)behaviour of others. Try to every now and then stand still ask yourself if your reaction was the rider’s reason or the elephant’s passion.
