#41 A World Without Free Will

Do you believe in human free will? And what about animals? Does your dog possess free will? The question of free will has consumed philosophers since the beginning, and it still does. Even today, it is an ongoing debate whether free will exists or not.

Regardless of your stance on free will, with the rise of Artificial Intelligence, we may need to have a new discussion about free will soon. As it seems, we are slipping into a world without choices, into a world without free will.

What Is Free Will?

According to the modern philosopher, psychiatrist, and neurologist Henrik Walter, free will has three key aspects:

1. The “ability to do otherwise,” meaning you have the freedom to choose between options.

2. “Control over one’s choices,” meaning the person deciding must also be the one taking action. This is known as agency - reflecting the sense of ownership over one's decisions.

3. And “responsiveness to reason,” indicating that decisions should be based on rational motives rather than random choices.

In simple terms, it suggests that even though we sometimes act on impulse or without full awareness, the general idea is that we usually have the potential to act freely.

Our legal system and society, as a whole, incorporate this concept, believing that people can choose to do things or not do them, and because of this choice, they’re considered responsible for their actions.

Free Will Comes With Responsibility

When you play on a football team, you have the choice to play fairly or selfishly. Similarly, when you are in a grocery store and take a six-pack of beer off the shelf, it is your decision whether to pay for it or steal it.

There are good choices and bad choices. You are responsible for them either way.

Our society is built upon moral principles such as playing fair, values like punctuality (at least in Austria), and legal regulations, such as not stealing. If you deviate from these principles, you will face consequences in one way or another.

Free Will In Real Life

Let's consider the following scenario:

Steve, an IT engineer, returns home after a stressful day, and his wife, whom we'll call Sarah, now has the freedom to choose how to handle the situation.

• Upon hearing the car pull into the driveway, Sarah goes downstairs to welcome her husband.

• As she opens the door, she immediately senses Steve's mood by observing his facial expressions and recognizes that he is stressed out.

• Having seen him this way many times before, she knows what to do.

• Sarah turns on soft lights and plays soothing music from Steve's iTunes library. She then closes blinds and curtains to prevent curious glares from the windows.

• Once Steve settles down on the sofa, Sarah informs him that the kids are still at football practice and that she will skip ladies' night today.
  

Steve smiles.

In this story, Sarah makes a series of decisions based on her free will, leading to a relieving climax after a stressful day.

Because:

Sarah is intelligent and intuitive.

She does not ask Steve but understands.

Sarah does not put herself first but takes action tailored to Steve's preferences.

Sarah is a woman who takes care of her husband that night. She chooses to nurture her relationship.

Sarah has free will.

Free Will in The Future

Infosys, India’s second-largest IT company, is determined to redefine human-to-computer interaction and describes Ambient Intelligence (AmI) as follows:

(for a brief insight into AmI, click here)

AmI is intelligent, pervasive, and intuitive.

It does not ask the user but understands the user context.

It does not make its presence felt but takes action that is tailored to the user’s preference.

AmI is an emerging technology that is set to radically change the way we interact with machines and devices around us.

But wait, it gets even better.

Read this from Infosys´s website:

“To get a better understanding of how Ambient Intelligence will make a difference to our daily lives, let’s consider a scenario where Steve, an IT engineer, comes home after a stressful day and AmI systems help him relax.

• A facial recognition system detects Steve at the doorstep and allows him to enter his home

• The system captures Steve’s facial expressions and AmI identifies that he is stressed

• When Steve enters the living room, the system turns on soft lights personalized to Steve’s mood and preferences

• AmI plays soothing music as per Steve’s taste selected from his iTunes library

• AmI closes blinds and curtains to prevent the glare coming in from the windows

• Once Steve settles down on the sofa, AmI plays an important message from his wife, saying she will be home a little late from the office. Furthermore, AmI scans Steve’s calendar, and tells him that the conference call at 8.30 pm has been postponed to 9 am tomorrow and he needs to carry the physical copy of an important document to the meeting

• Meanwhile, the AmI system recognizes that Steve’s father who is a senior citizen is moving from the kitchen to his bedroom and monitors to make sure he is okay

• By scanning the TV schedule, AmI reminds Steve that there is a football match tonight on TV, and asks him whether he would like to set a reminder for that"

The difference between old systems and Ambient Intelligence is that AmI doesn’t need a prompt. It reacts without you asking for it.

AmI decides for you.

Just like Sarah did.

Has Ambient Intelligence Free Will?

What does the story of Sarah and Steve teach us? To be honest, I don't know, but it makes me think.

If in the story AmI acts like Sarah, and Sarah has undeniably free will, does this imply AmI has free will, too?

If AmI takes care of everything for you, from the way your lighting is to the music you hear, without even requiring a decision from you, does this not, by definition, take away our free will?

Doesn't this, by definition, mean that we will surrender agency over (parts of) our lives?

Free Will or No Free Will

I believe that we are already living in a world without (absolute) free will and maybe always have been. Perhaps the idea of free will is an illusion, and therefore, we don't have to worry about whether AmI has free will or not.

Here are two examples that make me believe that (absolute) free will is an illusion:

We have no free will when we are angry:

This realization hit me today when my partner made me furious by saying something that triggered me. I really, really didn’t want to be angry, and I really, really tried hard to choose not to be angry, but I was. It felt as if I had no control over my choices.

We are all more or less addicts, and addiction undermines choices and free will:

Anyone who has ever tried to get sober, stop smoking, or lose weight will question free will. If we truly possess absolute free will, there would not be such a thing as addiction.

A World Without Free Will But With Personal Responsibility

No matter where you stand on the free will question, we are all called upon to take responsibility for our actions. It is easy to point fingers and blame others when things aren’t going our way.

It is entirely on me if I get furious because someone says something that reminds me of an incident from five years ago. My anger is my responsibility, even though I'd love to blame someone else.

Imagine…

Imagine a world where everyone embraces their personal responsibility and recognizes that their decisions have an impact on their lives and the lives of others and where they are willing to accept the consequences, both positive and negative, of their choices.

Imagine a world where everyone is accountable for their own actions, choices, and behaviors.

Imagine a world where everyone takes ownership of their actions and the consequences that result from those actions.

Imagine a world where humans and machines respect personal responsibility.

What would that look like?

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is a technology that combines Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Pervasive-Ubiquitous Computing, Networks, and Human Computer Interaction (HCI).

The technology provides the ideal marriage of IoT and AI. IoT devices and sensors implanted in the user's surroundings (such as their home and office) will collect contextual data and utilize AI to forecast the user's requirements.

Ambient intelligence (AmI) is a new technology that intends to introduce pervasive computing, artificial intelligence (AI) sensors, and sensor networks into our daily life. This technology is human-centric because it is extremely sensitive to the presence of humans in its surroundings.

It is a sophisticated artificial intelligence system that recognizes and responds to human presence. Siri or Alexa are actual examples of ambient intelligence since they reply to you once they detect your voice.

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