Freedom of choice or is it?

[AmericanBuffalo]

I truly love this country and the ideals and principles upon which it was founded. Our ability to have the range of freedom we still have despite it being challenged on nearly all fronts, is quite remarkable. The examples of this are endless and for better or worse it may be one of the remaining attributes of which keeps our ever fragmenting republic from becoming uncivil. However with technology so ever increasing in our day to day lives, whether willingly or not it is hastening how we make choices, having choices, or having choices made for us. Many times without our knowledge or thought but our consent.

I am unsure of what the percentage of people actually read through user agreements for the various tech devices, apps and software they use everyday. I would guess it is quite low. I would guess that because I have read many through the years and in doing so read how I would be agreeing to having information mined from my activities and then presented back to me as suggestions. To put it simply. So I really don't use much tech. Keep it very limited and still realize just by using it I have compromised my freedoms in some ways with agreeing with some of these user agreements. I think there is a conditioning affect from this in people.

I suppose what I am trying to get at is something we will see in the perhaps not too distant future. Where in a sense your mind is already made up for you before you make a choice. You used GrubHub to order from your favorite take out and it has what you ordered last time right there in front. It knows you like it. You ordered it. Probably will order it again.  Many times you won't bother looking for another choice as it has already been made for you and at some level you are good with it. That is the part which disturbs me! Being good with yourself for allowing a choice to be made for you. Maybe it was the right one, maybe not and you can never know because you left yourself out of the equation. You trusted this tech to do it for you. This is merely an example to illustrate a larger looming issue.

At some point this can be effectively used against us by providing another illusory layer to the freedom we perceive. I find it very hard to articulate this notion. Over time we have seen in many ways what we consider freedoms are actually illusions. I still think our forefathers had wisdom and foresight when crafting the US Constitution which has made the illusions to be used becoming quite clever. Perhaps it may have given the average citizen some staying power in the realm of freedom to the present. It remains to be seen how this goes.

I have nothing to link. It is just an opinion based on five plus decades of watching the hamster wheel go around and around.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

I am unsure of what the percentage of people actually read through user agreements for the various tech devices, apps and software they use everyday. I would guess it is quite low. I would guess that because I have read many through the years and in doing so read how I would be agreeing to having information mined from my activities and then presented back to me as suggestions. To put it simply. So I really don't use much tech. Keep it very limited and still realize just by using it I have compromised my freedoms in some ways with agreeing with some of these user agreements. I think there is a conditioning affect from this in people.

We are constantly in the situation were we are giving implied consent.

Implied consent is consent inferred from a person's actions and the facts and circumstances of a particular situation (or in some cases, by a person's silence or inaction).

We consent often by compliance, by doing nothing, or by saying nothing. It can be very tricky, and in a lot of cases, it is designed to be so, because consent by deception is very prevalent in our society today.

[AmericanBuffalo]

I am unsure of what the percentage of people actually read through user agreements for the various tech devices, apps and software they use everyday. I would guess it is quite low. I would guess that because I have read many through the years and in doing so read how I would be agreeing to having information mined from my activities and then presented back to me as suggestions. To put it simply. So I really don't use much tech. Keep it very limited and still realize just by using it I have compromised my freedoms in some ways with agreeing with some of these user agreements. I think there is a conditioning affect from this in people.

We are constantly in the situation were we are giving implied consent.

Implied consent is consent inferred from a person's actions and the facts and circumstances of a particular situation (or in some cases, by a person's silence or inaction).

We consent often by compliance, by doing nothing, or by saying nothing. It can be very tricky, and in a lot of cases, it is designed to be so, because consent by deception is very prevalent in our society today.

You are right on to some of what I am trying to convey. Not sure if my writing gets to the crux. As I stated I am having difficulty trying to articulate this.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

What is "User agreement"? Never heard of that.  

Yea, you're right. One or two mouse clicks and gone.

This one from Amazon is my favorite:



AWS Service Terms
WTF is going on?! The Zombie Apocalypse is nigh?  

Next to nobody (except lawyers) reads these thesis length User agreements & ToS's anymore and perhaps Amazon stuck that in as a test.

Instead of watching hamster wheel I give you the choice of watching grass grow.

"The illusion of freedom will continue for as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will take down the scenery, move the tables and chairs out of the way, then they will pull back the curtains and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater." - Frank Zappa

This quote has been buzzing around my mind for years...

“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality – judiciously, as you will – we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
— Karl Rove, aka the Architect as reported by Ron Suskind, NYTimes Magazine, Oct. 17, 2004

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

We have been warned, century after century. We have seen the monster. We live in fear and yet we continue to feed the monster. We have looked in the mirror and seen the answer.

Yet here we are. Reliving another version of a hell we think we are avoiding with conformity and compliance.

My days are few. I can't say that I am unhappy about that.

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

We have freewill with regards to our capabilities.

Regardless of morality and social conformity, we have the power to decide to do whatever we can think to do and act on it. I believe the problem is that many people won't take responsibility for the consequences of their actions when they go beyond what is considered excepted behavior. That only becomes a consideration after they get caught. Also, it seems that if money and power are involved, there are no serious consequences for those who have it when they break laws or abuse rights.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

We have freewill with regards to our capabilities.

Regardless of morality and social conformity, we have the power to decide to do whatever we can think to do and act on it. I believe the problem is that many people won't take responsibility for the consequences of their actions when they go beyond what is considered excepted behavior. That only becomes a consideration after they get caught. Also, it seems that if money and power are involved, there are no serious consequences for those who have it when they break laws or abuse rights.

Says it all.

[AmericanBuffalo]

Certainly personal responsibility has waned for quite awhile. Which is problematic. True freedom REQUIRES being responsible. There is work involved with maintaining our freedoms. Sometimes its is hard work and may even demand a bit of sacrifice. The end result typically makes the time effort and energy worthwhile.
However we are living in the time of deceit and selfish behaviours. One could generalize and state the masses are selfish, lazy and overentitled!