It's as old as philosophy itself. Freedom. Free will. Free choice.
We've taken it for granted in our western world. "Of course we're free," we gloat when comparing ourselves to those in the world we consider unfree.
Until we're not free. To get together in groups, or sit tight to another table at a restaurant, or even go to a basketball game.
Which should cause us to howl in protest. Except it doesn't because we're scared or mandated.
And then there are the definitions of what it is to be free anyway. Is it free to do whatever we want? Is this choice really mine or am I unknowingly following some external programming?
You can see why it's been so much debated in schools of philosophy and religion. In our modern art of persuasion, the skill of the persuader lies in getting you to do what they want but thinking that it's your choice.
What a tangled web! Is there any point in wading into those waters yet again?
I unhesitatingly say yes, for we have a science here that can begin to put it to rights.
The Science of Freedom, today on Thinking with Somebody Else's Head.