The New Freedom

Personal data collection and behavior tracking seem to be well rooted in our Internet society, to the point that it undermines our freedom. But there are people who already have a different sense of what freedom means. That is why they are not afraid and do not feel anxious about the invasion of Internet into their privacy. I think only part of the human population is aware of the pernicious link between technology and freedom. Just like in the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell: Winston Smith is the only one to be aware of the manipulation of the Party but people around him mostly have no political consciousness. The majority seems politically apathetic. In our society, maybe the majority indulges in the current world. People are not interested in fighting against something that they do not feel directly violates their well-being. There is a reluctance to question oneself too much. As long as all is well, as in the material comfort is satisfied, in one’s short human life, there is not really time to think about future generations or even the current state of society. There are those who feels that something is wrong but cannot name the problem, but are however trying hard to change things and persuade others that something is wrong. Then, there are those who have a slight and occasional feeling that something is wrong but will not investigate further because their present personal sphere is satisfying. Finally there are those who do not sense anything wrong in the evolution of technology and its impact on the society.

-- By ClaireCaton - 09 Oct 2020

Section I : The New Meaning of Freedom

The evolving Internet society shapes the new physiology of human beings who carry within them a new definition of freedom.

Subsection A : The Ability to Choose Means Freedom

When asked to define freedom, I have often heard people use the words democracy, free will, choice, rights, or emancipation. The ability to choose seems to exclude the possibility of being manipulated. Yet, people believe that they have the right to choose whether to be a user of any technology. In class, it has been said that “every time it feels like there is no other choice, the existent power wins”. But what if it never really feels like there is no other choice? Just like people who are addicted to nicotine or other substance, they usually don’t acknowledge their addiction to something. They are deeply convinced that they can stop when they want to and that it only depends on their will power. People don’t feel unfree or manipulated because they believe, or try so hard that they convince themselves, that they have the choice to use or not to use technology, and therefore they are free.

Subsection B : The Convenience and Uninterrupted Connection Entail Freedom

People not only believe that they can choose to use technology, but also that uninterrupted access and connection to the world is part of a freedom-tinted lifestyle. For some people, freedom translates into the possibility to have continuous access to the Internet, because it means accessing parts of the world they could not have seen through any other channel. Being able to travel far through a computer or telephone screen might as well provide a sense of freedom. Moreover, the convenience of having everything in no time has shaped a new human being. The near-universal access to smartphones in China and the food delivery services such as Eleme allow people to have every kind of dishes delivered to their home within 30 minutes. This feature of technology that provides uninterrupted convenience and fulfills the smallest needs make people associate the possession of electronic devices to freedom.

Section II : Human Nature Versus Transformative Power of Technology

Humans are so confident that they hardly contemplate technology overriding them or making them addicted. In the meantime, technology has already transformed human nature.

Subsection A : Human Self-Confidence

Some people became aware of their inability to relinquish convenient electronic tools, hence the emergence of smartphone applications to substitute will power, or rather the absence of will power, and allow them to block distracting websites on their smartphones. They think they are smart enough to create applications to allow them escape their technology addiction. However, this is not enough to make them think that they are enslaved by technology. They still feel free because they believe to be in control of their devices. They do not believe that technology can control them. Humans are convinced that they are too smart to be dominated by technology. The creator of Ava in the movie Ex Machina keeps the robot locked in a cell: humans are free and controlling their creations. The belief that human intelligence surpasses artificial intelligence is deeply rooted in humans.

Subsection B : “In Changing The Technical World, Man Changes His Own Nature”

A further degree of influence of technology on human nature is that human beings will be insensitive to the notion of freedom itself. As Marx said in Capital, "in changing the technical world, Man changes his own nature." Society and technology and human behavior are tightly intertwined. Habits are powerful, just as technology is. Maybe the original freedom of men has already been abandoned by society. New habits of mind have corrupted the humans. People do not sense any explicit requirement to be submissive or to obey, yet they are being submissive, because their nature is altered. They have become insensitive to what was once perceived as freedom of the free men. The idea of voluntary servitude in The Discourse on Voluntary Servitude might be relevant to our current society. The human nature is such that we tend to prioritize individual well-being over collective happiness. Is this the result of the power of technology over human nature?

This draft is coherent and thoughtful. If you read it with an editorial eye, however, you will see many sentences that are crucial to the flow of the argument that are sustained by no more than mere assertion. There are, in general, few facts here. The metaphor of "addiction" is used at several critical junctures, but there's no definition of addiction or reference to fact that would justify the high reliance and hard work the metaphor is made to do.

"Choice" is a slippery, non-specific concept. That's why Google wants all the antitrust and competition regulators of the world to remember that "competition is just a click away." That's why having 25 brands of breakfast cereal in the supermarket but no chance to join a labor union isn't necessarily any evidence of a free society. It's why Voltaire jokes that the English are a curious nation, with 100 religions and only one sauce.

So not only is it likely that people think to much about choice and too little about self-government, but also that your draft does as well. What happens if your thoughtfulness is directed not to metaphors of choice and addiction but to the alternate concepts of self-government and the decline of freedom?

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