What is choice?  How exactly are choices made within the self?

I propose that choice is an illusion, that there is no such thing as free choice the way we think of it.  Whether you agree with this or not, what makes choices?  Is it the brain or something else?  Haruki Murakami refers to the self as the “mind”, something different and separate from the brain.  The brain is that organic lump of tissue inside your head; the mind is the soul, the essence of one’s personality.  Which of these makes choices?

Consider the brain as a computer, admittedly a complex one made of biochemical bits and bytes rather than silicon and microchips.  If the brain is the computer, then the mind – or the self – is the program, the software itself.

With that in mind (no pun intended), this software has already been encoded with the most complex program and series of algorithms that have never been conceived.  Our “self” is nothing more than a collection of gates – AND gates, OR gates, etc – with any possible outcome to a so-called choice already hardcoded into our personality.  Given a set of two choices, an OR gate will always produce the same result, completely predictable.  And so goes your mind.

From the simple to the complex, any choice that could ever be offered you has already been factored into your programming.  Whether you will stop to pick up a dime you see on the ground, whether you will choose the steak or the chicken on a particular night at a restaurant, all of these choices have already been made for you.  You will never freely choose anything, you are simply carrying out instructions given to you.

Everything you do, every action you perform, every “emotion” you think you feel, it has all been preordained by this higher programming.  If it were possible to dissect your mind, your self, then every single moment of your day could be predicted with perfect accuracy.  We consider ourselves human because of these illusions of choice, perception, and emotions.  In reality, we are nothing more than machines.  Vulcans had it right, they were much closer to the truth in their abandonment of emotions and pursuit of logic.

(copyright 2004 by mdl)