The Illusion of Choice

Have you ever wondered about the difference between a real choice and the illusion of it? One of the simplest, yet abstract, explanations that I can think of is the one in the Matrix movie series. Humans were rejecting the matrix until they were given the option to accept or reject it. Once offered the choice, most of them, if not all, willingly chose to accept it. 

If an abstract one doesn't suit your palate, think about social media websites of today, like Facebook. We all have a choice to be on it or not. However, that choice to be or not be on social media is a similar illusion. Everything, from events happening in your local area, your friends and family's updates, etc. to memes and funny videos, is on social media. Heck, tweets are even impacting the financial markets on certain days. Think about it, the prosperity and misery of people lie in the balance of just a few random sentences posted on the internet. You don't even have to be on social media to get impacted by something like this. 

Another example is the comic portrayal of the freedom of choice that a man has in a relationship. Stand-up artists and funny skit makers have often portrayed how a girlfriend doesn't want her boyfriend to have a good time on a night out with his friends, even though she says "have fun".  

Sometimes I feel like the freedom of choice is becoming more of an illusion than a real choice. Yes, you can choose between a Samsung and an iPhone, but they've all just become large touch screen phones with the same social media apps and massive cameras. The only thing you're choosing is which rich person gets further richer when you spend your money on an overprice over-hyped item. Is that really a choice? And this pretty much applies to most pieces of technology that we use nowadays, from cars to cell phones. 

Forget about choosing between items of consumption, think about the larger choices that we may have. Most people would agree that there should be freedom of religion, but how many of us really chose our own religion? How much choice did we really have? Even if we decided to choose religion like a cell phone, how many of us would really feel free to choose it? If religion is too touchy, think about nationality, or profession, or even our leaders. 

We are born with a certain nationality and for most of us, changing it takes a lot of time and effort. As far as profession is concerned, I'd quote Chris Rock from his special Tamborine, "You can be anything that you want to be, provided that they're hiring." Last but not least, the political leaders - the only difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that we get to choose our robber in the former, and even then, we're giving a lesser damn about who robs us, as democracy is on the decline globally. 

Maybe my brain is just over-churning on a Friday night when I've got nothing to do during a lockdown. Maybe I've heard "just accept the situation" far too many times about the way our world right now. Or maybe, just maybe, while we were busy pondering upon our choices, we just stopped watching and let the world around us slowly replace our real choices with the illusion of it.