You Might Not Be Making Your Own Decisions

Ah, the future. It's that conceptually abstract, intangible place—an event or thing that exists ahead of the past, just after the present, and always pulled back by now. 

Dr. Suess, a timelessly successful children's author, is quoted as saying, "Only you can control your future."

He's not the only one. 

The best way to predict the future is to create it, Peter Drucker, successful management consultant and author. 

Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change, Jim Rohn, famous entrepreneur and motivational speaker/author.

You are the master of your destiny, Napoleon Hill, author of the incredibly well-known, Think And Grow Rich self-help book.

We are the architects of our own destiny, Swami Vivekananda, Hindu Monk and philosopher.

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be, Voltaire, French Enlightenment writer and philosopher. 

There are quite literally hundreds if not thousands more. 

That brings me to this. How do you shape or create something that's stuck in a present momentary loop?

Maybe that's a question for another time. 😉 

Back to the listed quotes, I ponder that the more relevant questions would be, how much control do we have over our philosophical, ideologically driven, emotion-based futures? Do our actions and decisions now genuinely affect what our tomorrow looks like?

Most (myself included) would sputter, "Obviously, you dolt." 

If in front of you, someone drops a dookie on your lawn…I mean if someone's "dog" drops a dookie on your lawn…it'll probably lead to an outcome between giving that person the finger and/or your foot up their donkey. 

Bad decision from the "dog" / owner? Absolutely.

Now, what if I told you that this "decision", was made before he, or she…that's right…knew it was consciously happening?

As you laugh out loud derisively, allow me to 'splain. 

YOUR DECISIONS JUST GOT SCEINCED

The Libet Experiment, conducted by neuroscientist Benjamin Libet in 1983, is one of the most famous and controversial experiments in the field of neuroscience. Why?

Because it challenges the notion of free will.

Bum Bum Bummm. 😮 😮 😮 😮 (That was supposed to be dramatic music…)

The experiment explored the relationship between brain activity and conscious decision-making. In layman's terms, anything you choose to do should be registered in the brain after the fact, or so you thought.

The study went like this…

Participants were asked to perform a simple task. They were instructed to press a button whenever they felt the urge. Super easy.

Meanwhile, their brain activity was monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) to record electrical impulses. The key focus was on measuring something called the "readiness potential".

Readiness potential is a term used in neuroscience to describe a specific pattern of brain activity that occurs before a voluntary physical movement. It represents the brain’s preparation for an action and is detectable using electroencephalography (EEG) as a slow buildup of electrical activity in the motor cortex. 

This is about half a second (500 milliseconds) before a person becomes consciously aware of their intention to move. It's a little like how I react when I see a penny on the ground or dollar bills in a public toilet.

More to the point, Libet found that this readiness potential occurred several hundred milliseconds before participants reported being consciously aware of their intention to press the button. 

This crazy outcome suggests that the unconscious brain was initiating action before the individual became consciously aware of making the decision.

Say whaaaaaat! 😱

If the brain begins to prepare for movement before a person becomes consciously aware of their decision, then the conscious mind might NOT be in control of initiating voluntary actions. Instead, the conscious decision to act may merely be an after-awareness of a decision already made by unconscious processes.

In simple speak, when we think we are making a choice, we may not be.

Instead, we might suddenly become aware of it, but something else is choosing for us.

Crazy, I know.

The experiment seems to demonstrate that decisions and choices could be made milliseconds before we consciously choose. This would mean that potentially, we are living with the illusion of choice and only aware of a choice when it happens. Kind of like reacting to a theme park ride or roller coaster.

The study obviously sparked huge debates up to this day. The findings are in contradiction to the notion of free will, that we choose our future, how each of us makes our own decisions…you get the idea.

DETERMINED WITHOUT DETERMINATION

Does the Libet Experiment prove we have no free will?

I don’t know.  Kinda.

From one perspective, it reinforces Wu Wei. 

For those unfamiliar, Wu Wei is this "letting go" state of being in the present.. It's sort of like your conscious mind gets out of the way, and this deeper part of yourself operates uninhibited. Athletes reference it all the time, being in the “zone”.

It's also one of those things where when you try to tap into Wu Wei, you mostly can't. However, when there is a genuine "I'm ok with whatever happens", Wu Wei almost always plays out.

You can read more about it here.

Now that I think about it, does Wu Wei AND the Libet Experiment support the notion of fate?

Fate and all that has been a fascinating look into how life functions. The Greeks were totally into it. Sometimes, I admit, it feels like things just happen, or that decisions are made for me on a grander scale. 

TABULA RASA

Skipping back to Ancient Greece times, specifically in the writings of Aristotle, the concept of Tabula Rasa, Latin for "blank slate" made its debut. The philosopher John Locke in the 17th century essentially modernized it.

It theoretically means the mind is without any preconceptions or ideas at birth, hence, a "blank slate". 

Practically, this idea is to suggest the world, personal (family, religion, etc) and extrapersonal (society, laws, etc), try to input their messages, thus collectively influencing the creation of behavior and personality. 

For a long while, Tabula Rasa was foundational in a lot of Psychology and what not. However, genetics research brought another factor of influence, which kind of muddies the "blank slate" idea. 

Still, there is little doubt that external elements, from advertising and media, to the neighbor's dog that just won't shut up despite its owner being home (can you tell where I'm writing this?), play significant parts in behavior.

That being said, all this makes me wonder if the Libet Experiment findings are the result of environment, enough repetition, and society's long input of being generally agreeable. It could be that button pressing was conditioned by a variety of factors. It almost sounds as if the conscious mind got bored and checked out for a bit.

Did I just decipher Wu Wei?

DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR

I like the idea that I shape my future.

Yeah, I'm one of those.

I read self-help books and try to implement their teachings, wisdom…whatever…anything that could make my life better. Funnily enough, I do seem to be short $10 to $30, give or take, every time I pick up a copy of said books.  There is that.

Back to the future 🤨, it remains this hopeful, albeit elusive place I find myself mentally dwelling in, despite the future never quite going the way I imagine it. 

Yet, when I DON'T think about the future, or I suppose more accurately, HOW that future will happen, things do tend to work out very well. 

Anyone love circles? 

I’ll conclude with this. I'm an advocate for future plans, if only because it makes the present worth doing.