(Stillness in the Storm Editor) The Deep State doesn’t want people to think free will is real. They want to reduce everything to genetics, behavioristic influences (external factors), and group dynamics. The foundation of free societies rests on the belief that the individual can choose, which is enshrined as inalienable rights. Remove rights, and the Deep State can create a system of control that is almost perfect.
Free will acts in the moment, in the now. It also acts in the past, so to speak. When you make a choice, your neurology records that choice as a program or embedded behavior. Later, your brain will “automatically” trigger the program as an impulse or instinct.
The study below asserts that, under certain conditions, because part of our brain seems to make choices before we’re even aware of the choice point, this must prove free will doesn’t exist. I contend that this interpretation of the data is wrong.
It’s important to remember, especially living in a world where science is used to justify all sorts of things, that properly interpreting a scientific study is an absolute must.
The Deep State know that many people lack the ability to look into a study themselves to examine the conclusions and methods of gathering the data.
Contrary to popular belief, science is not settled or perfect. As a matter of fact, the situation is so bad that honest scientists are now submitting hoax papers in an effort to raise awareness of the problem of faulty scientific process and evaluation.
This means that as laymen, we should take every study that proves this or that with a massive grain of salt.
The bottom line is that science is not unbiased. As someone who went to university for physics, I can tell you that preconceived notions are everywhere. It’s a natural human tendency.
What this means is that scientists are heavily influenced to prove through studies, what the status quo already believes. In this case, the powers that be want to prove free will doesn’t exist because once enough people accept this, any claims to rights, freedom, and real justice disappear.
The entire legal and lawful system, despite how broken it is, is founded on the canonical belief that individuals have rights and free will. The Deep State would like nothing more than to prove to people that there is no free will.
The study had this to say:
“We believe that when we are faced with the choice between two or more options of what to think about, non-conscious traces of the thoughts are there already, a bit like unconscious hallucinations.
As the decision of what to think about is made, executive areas of the brain choose the thought-trace which is stronger. In, other words, if any pre-existing brain activity matches one of your choices, then your brain will be more likely to pick that option as it gets boosted by the pre-existing brain activity.
This would explain, for example, why thinking over and over about something leads to ever more thoughts about it, as it occurs in a positive feedback loop.” (source)
Read this carefully.
The scientist quoted above never says free will doesn’t exist. He doesn’t assert that choice isn’t a factor. He asserts that choices can create “a positive feedback loop” where the bias of whatever choice was initially made creates a kind of reflexive pattern. That is, when you take stock of a new phenomenon, your brain organizes a behavioral pattern around it that provides a framework for “automatic choices” latter. Because we perceive reality through value and action, the psyche organizes things in our environment in terms of usefulness. A glass of water isn’t just a glass of water, it’s something we can drink to quench our thirst—and our neurology is designed to see things this way. This means automatic behavioral subroutines are constantly being generated as you walk around in life—even if you don’t act on those potential behaviors.
I suggest this is similar to a habit-forming process. If you start doing something, you create a behavioral process around it that acts as an impulse when you’re in a similar situation later. That impulsive process in the brain uses centers that act as if you have already made the choice, which you feel in the moment as a strong or weak impulse to do something. For example, when you’re driving up to a stop sign, part of your brain already knows what to do, and therefore the choice appears automatic—it appears like you didn’t actually make a choice in the moment because from a neurology perspective you didn’t. But you did learn how to deal with stop signs in the past, and that required executive function—free will.
This means that the study doesn’t actually prove free will doesn’t exist at all. Quite the reverse, it suggests that free will choice is more complex than we previously thought.
This underscores the importance of philosophy, which is the technique of exploring meanings. Science produces data, but philosophy interprets it. Without proper thinking, information can be skewed to mean almost anything. This is why you, as a reader, as a person living in this world, need to learn how to think critically and discern wisely.
Related 4 Key Steps of Discernment – Advanced Truth-Seeking Tools
The powers that be don’t want you to do this. They want you to trust experts. They want you to think you’re too stupid to understand what the priests of reality, scientists, conclude.
Don’t fall for it. You’re smarter than you think.
– Justin
by Dagny Taggart, March 13th, 2019
Does free will truly exist?
According to a new study, maybe not. It appears that we may have less control over our personal choices than we think. Unconscious brain activity seems to determine our choices well before we are even aware of them.
Researchers at the Future Minds Lab at UNSW School of Psychology in Australia were able to predict basic choices participants made BEFORE they consciously declared their decisions. Their findings were published last week in the journal Scientific Reports.
For the experiment, the researchers asked 14 participants to freely choose between two visual patterns – one of red horizontal stripes and one of green vertical stripes – before consciously imagining them while being observed in a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine (fMRI).
They were given a maximum of 20 seconds to choose between the patterns. Once they’d made a decision, they pressed a button and had 10 seconds to visualize the pattern as hard as they could. Next, they were asked “what did you imagine?” and “how vivid was it?” They answered these questions by pressing buttons.
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The results were unsettling.
Scientists were able to predict which pattern people would choose before their thoughts even became conscious.
Here is an explanation of the results, from the UNSW press release:
Not only could the researchers predict which pattern they would choose, they could also predict how strongly the participants were to rate their visualizations. With the assistance of machine learning, the researchers were successful at making above-chance predictions of the participants’ volitional choices at an average of 11 seconds before the thoughts became conscious.
The brain areas that revealed information about the future choices were located in executive areas of the brain – where our conscious decision-making is made – as well as visual and subcortical structures, suggesting an extended network of areas responsible for the birth of thoughts. (source)
Professor Joel Pearson said we may have thoughts on ‘standby’ based on previous brain activity, which then influences our final decisions without us being aware:
“We believe that when we are faced with the choice between two or more options of what to think about, non-conscious traces of the thoughts are there already, a bit like unconscious hallucinations.
As the decision of what to think about is made, executive areas of the brain choose the thought-trace which is stronger. In, other words, if any pre-existing brain activity matches one of your choices, then your brain will be more likely to pick that option as it gets boosted by the pre-existing brain activity.
This would explain, for example, why thinking over and over about something leads to ever more thoughts about it, as it occurs in a positive feedback loop.” (source)
The subjective strength of future thoughts was also dependent on activity housed in the early visual cortex, an area in the brain that receives visual information from the outside world. This suggests that the current state of activity in perceptual areas (which are believed to change randomly) has an influence on how strongly we think about things, the researchers explained.
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This study isn’t the first to show that our thoughts can be predicted before we have them.
While these findings might seem shocking, this study isn’t the first to show that thoughts can be predicted before they are conscious.
This study builds on previous research, reports Quartz:
As the researchers note, similar techniques have been able to predict motor decisions between seven and 10 seconds before they’re conscious, and abstract decisions up to four seconds before they’re conscious. Taken together, these studies show how understanding how the brain complicates our conception of free will.
Neuroscientists have long known that the brain prepares to act before you’re consciously aware, and there are just a few milliseconds between when a thought is conscious and when you enact it. Those milliseconds give us a chance to consciously reject unconscious impulses, seeming to form a foundation of free will. (source)
The researchers say that their findings may have implications for mental disorders involving thought intrusions that use mental imagery, such as PTSD. They cautioned against assuming that all choices are predetermined by pre-existing brain activity.
“Our results cannot guarantee that all choices are preceded by involuntary images, but it shows that this mechanism exists, and it potentially biases our everyday choices,” Professor Pearson said.
This kind of research could benefit people with certain disorders – but at what cost?
This kind of mind-reading technology certainly appears to have the potential for abuse and manipulation if it falls into the hands of the wrong people.
What does this mean for privacy? What does this mean for those being interrogated by law enforcement?
The list of ramifications could go on and on.
This is only part of a growing problem with invasive technology.
Just last month, a team of neuro-engineers at Columbia University reported that they developed a system that can translate people’s thoughts into intelligible, recognizable speech.
If you are concerned about how far all of this research is going to go, you aren’t alone. As I asked in Science FACT: Mind-Reading Technology Is Now Reality:
With this rapid progression of technological advancement, one has to wonder…how close are we to technological singularity?
Oh, and on that note – Facebook is really into the idea of accessing user information directly from their brains. Yes, you read that correctly: Facebook wants to read users’ minds. During a February interview with Harvard law school professor Jonathan Zittrain, CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned a brain-computer interface (it would look similar to a shower cap) the social media behemoth is researching.
In response, Zittrain said, “Fifth Amendment implications are staggering.”
Zuckerberg’s reply will surprise no one: “Presumably, this would be something that someone would choose to use as a product.”
Despite years of bad press, public outrage over privacy violations, and the loss of millions of users (and counting), Facebook remains determined to infect our lives whether we want it to or not. And if you believe you are safe from the tech giant’s creepy stalker tactics, think again: Even if you have deactivated all of your social media accounts – or never had any in the first place – your privacy is not guaranteed.
Technology is progressing so rapidly it is difficult to keep up.
Nearly every day, reports of new and potentially invasive developments are being announced. Scientists and technology companies claim that this research is for the benefit of society, even while warning us about its potential dangers.
It sure seems like a dystopian nightmare is approaching.
What do you think about this research?
Do you think there is any good that can come of it? In what ways do you think it could be abused? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
About Dagny
Dagny Taggart is the pseudonym of a professional journalist who needs to maintain anonymity to keep her job in the public eye. Dagny is non-partisan and aims to expose the half-truths, misrepresentations, and blatant lies of the MSM.
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Stillness in the Storm Editor: Why did we post this?
Psychology is the study of the nature of mind. Philosophy is the use of that mind in life. Both are critically important to gain an understanding of as they are aspects of the self. All you do and experience will pass through these gateways of being. The preceding information provides an overview of this self-knowledge, offering points to consider that people often don’t take the time to contemplate. With the choice to gain self-awareness, one can begin to see how their being works. With the wisdom of self-awareness, one has the tools to master their being and life in general, bringing order to chaos through navigating the challenges with the capacity for right action.
– Justin
Not sure how to make sense of this? Want to learn how to discern like a pro? Read this essential guide to discernment, analysis of claims, and understanding the truth in a world of deception: 4 Key Steps of Discernment – Advanced Truth-Seeking Tools.
Stillness in the Storm Editor’s note: Did you find a spelling error or grammar mistake? Send an email to [email protected], with the error and suggested correction, along with the headline and url. Do you think this article needs an update? Or do you just have some feedback? Send us an email at [email protected]. Thank you for reading.
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