Netflix’ "The Social Dilemma" & Free Will

One of the most complex enquires in the history of philosophy is certainly free will. In general terms, free will means that our will is free; that we act of our own will; that we generate actions with intention. I am writing this short article because I want to: I am buying that chocolate because I want to; I am on my phone because I am in control.

The Netflix’ 2020 docudrama The Social Dilemma by Jeff Orlowski, however, tells us otherwise. In a series of interviews interspersed with the growing drama of a family used as a fictional example, Orlowski represents our world in a very different light than some of us think: social media manipulate us for profit, they direct our behaviours, they change us. Conclusion: there is no free will. We are not in charge.

The interviewees are mostly experts and repentants of social media, people that like Tristan Harris, ex Google, people that have helped create the algorithms that govern us. Realising the demons they have created, the hell they have helped building, they have left the respective companies and are calling for an awakening in the individual user and a new ethical stance on the part of the companies and the governments.

I will not go through the details of the documentary, but I will raise issues that may in effect question the illusory dream of free will. Social media make money advertising products for sellers. We do not realise this when we see advertising popping up on our Facebook page, advertisements for a search we maybe had made on Google or Amazon. I like writing, a lot of the ads on my Facebook page are about creative writing courses or publishers. Yes, I do go on Facebook to see what my friends are doing, but I may end up to some other websites, only for “a quick look.” Did I even realise I was clicking that link? Was I conscious when I did it? Did I really will it?

Why did I even go on Facebook? If I want to see how my friends are doing I could text them or message them, I don’t need to stalk onto their lives nor I need to write a post about my life and leave it out there in the hope that someone likes me (giving me validation) or messages me afterwards to check I’m okay. Standard call for attention. (On Facebook we do appear a bit all stalkers or voyeurs but, above all, we want to be watched, but I am not going to dwell on this, as it is not the subject of the documentary nor of this article.)

The problem with social media is that they are not made for our brains, but they know how to make use of our brains. We have the brains of cavemen; our brains have not evolved further than our ancestors’. Our brain, our entire body, is meant for survival and thus procreation. For this reason, in a small community or village, the individual had to be popular and powerful in order to procure himself and the village food or simply to be entitled for more food than others. He had to be popular in order to attract the attention of the female and thus procreate and extend the life of his genes: survival. She had to do the same, be attractive, use filters, maybe the right angle, before posting a photo on Facebook.

Yes, our brains have not changed, but technology has. We don’t want to be popular in a community of a dozen people, because our community is of about 2 billion people: the so called Global Village. What do you feel when only a couple of your friends like your post. How do you feel when 100 or 1000 do? Do you feel the dopamine in your veins? What about your free will? When you post, do you think about why you are doing it? What is motivating you? Do you think about procreation? Why do you want to be popular?

The algorithms that govern our lives are represented, in The Social Dilemma, by three identical individuals researching our individual data and devising stratagems to manipulate our behaviours. It is a nice trick, to show what an algorithm does, but it falls into the trap of humanising an entity that is not human. It’s the usual trap of anthropocentrism. An algorithm is neither human nor humane, it does not have ethics, it follows itself. It’s been made to manipulate us, but it has no evil intentions. It has no intentions whatsoever. It follows instructions and it has been created to evolve in knowing us better and better. The people interviewed in the documentary were not evil, even though they feel the weight now of their actions. They did not create those algorithms with evil intentions, they did it because it was part of their jobs, they followed requests and instructions. They had no idea, for the most part, of the broadness the consequences of their actions would take. Consequences escape free will.

They have repented. They have created companies and communities to warn us and to ask governments for new policies of control. They are scared of the Pandora’s Box that they have not only created, but for which they had never planned a lid. They ask the users (like drugs users, the documentary points out, it’s all about dopamine, after all), to be more attentive, to switch off your notifications; pay attention to how much your kids use and are used my social media (the fictional drama in the documentary is mostly about this). Indeed, there are kids that have killed themselves because of social media: it’s no exaggeration, no conspiracy theory. Everything is so obvious in hindsight.

So, can you stay a week without your mobile phone? Can you stay away from any form of social media for a week? Yes, you.

I don’t know whether I can. But there is something else I would suggest. We cannot control the government’ decisions. Is it correct to expect the government to tell us what to do? We have been warned, haven’t we? Don’t we have free will? No, we don’t, we are easily manipulated because we act without a conscious will, we are not really present when we use social media. We don’t know what we are doing, because we are not aware, we plod through 99% of our lives. What I would suggest is to be mindful.

I know, I know, but listen. We cannot control our brains, our genetic programming. We are easily manipulated by social media. All of this is because we have no free will. Because we are not present when we act. We are always elsewhere in the most damaging decisions in our lives. But what if I asked myself why I am going on Facebook today? Why did I click that link? How is the life of this famous person going to affect mine if I read the latest gossip? How is it making it better? Do I really need this course? How many writing courses to I need, you bloody Facebook. What if I were present and stopped judging myself? Does my happiness depend on what I buy or on how many people like my post. Is it really this the person I am? Who am I? where am I? Am I here? Did I take this decision or have I been manipulated? Shouldn’t maybe I just call my friend and tell her I love her just because I stopped a moment and I realised she’s such a good friend? Why don’t we try to be aware when we act or when we click a button? We may not choose what influences us, but we can be there when we act. You, on your own, you can fight, quietly. Breathe, be here. Love yourself a little.