My Digital FootPrint

This is Richard Holton (x MIT) discussing the classic philosophical problem of can data predict and free will --- that is, the question of whether we human beings decide things for ourselves, or are forced to go one way or another.  He distinguishes between two different worries. One worry is that the laws of physics, plus facts about the past over which we have no control, determine what we will do, and that means we're not free. Another worry is that because the laws and the past determine what we'll do, someone smart enough could know what we would do ahead of time, so we can't be free. He says the second worry is much worse than the first, but argues that the second doesn't follow from the first. The next problem is that this assume the mind and no body and when we realise that they are one ( the strange order of things) - and chemistry is a bigger controller of outcome than the mind ( the mind is flat ) - does knowing more data help or not?

Our personal worldview is based on experience but that experience has a bias; the way we make sense of things produces bias ( The Mind is Flat ) and in the end we have no idea just how biased we are in our own opinions, delivery, views or ideas.  However a joy of the Freedom is Speech is that we are entitled to have a biased opinion and express it. Human brains are wired to make all kinds of mental mistakes which can impact our ability to make sense of what our senses are telling us. In total, there are 188 cognitive biases that mess with how we process data, think critically, and perceive reality.   This is the big picture at the end. The School of Thought , a non-profit dedicated to spreading critical thinking has the construct below to help us, it puts the most common ideas in a simple form. Why is this important : a big idea in GDPR and other consumer protection rights /ideas is that of informed consent. The idea falls down at many levels as a complex consent ...