The Fascinating Phenomenon That Holds Your Attention: An Overlooked Danger to Our Free Will

The Hidden Threat to Our Autonomy: An Underestimated Danger to Free Will

In conversations about artificial intelligence, many envision catastrophic scenarios—robots turning against humanity, superintelligent machines dominating society, or dystopian worlds reminiscent of science fiction. These dramatic images often capture our imagination, but the most profound threat may be more subtle, more insidious, and ultimately more impactful: the gradual erosion of our attention.

Our perception of the world,Our beliefs about ourselves and our place in it—are fundamentally shaped by the flood of information we absorb through our senses over a lifetime. From the language we speak and the sources we trust, to our political inclinations and personal biases, everything originates from this vast intake of experiences and impressions.

This process is inherent to all animals with brains—a continuous accumulation of survival-related information that guides behavior and decision-making. Humans, however, possess a remarkable advantage: the ability to transmit and share worldview-shaping information through symbols—storytelling, speech, writing. This capacity for symbolic communication is the cornerstone of civilization. It allows us to pass down ideas, cultures, and knowledge across generations, fostering progress and connection.

But this superpower also introduces a vulnerability. Human history shows that written language emerged roughly 5,000 years ago, and for most of that time, literacy was a rare skill. Until recently, most people’s worldview was influenced mainly by direct experience, with only a small fraction shaped by the literate elite.

The advent of television marked a significant leap in symbolic transmission—an accessible medium that didn’t require literacy and drastically expanded the influence of curated stories and images. These forms of media increased the symbolic component of our worldview from around 2% to possibly 10% or more.

Growing up in the late 20th century, I remember a household with a single television, often unwatched, and no personalized content feed. Today, however, screens are omnipresent. From the moment we wake up to the last thing we see before sleep, our environments are saturated with visual stimuli.

And perhaps more concerning is the sophistication of the algorithms behind these screens—designed to understand and predict our preferences better than we understand ourselves. Over the past three decades, this technological evolution has been unprecedented, transforming how we experience reality.

Imagine a world where algorithms shape our worldview even more profoundly than our direct interactions with the world. Where a significant portion of the stories, images, and ideas we consume is crafted not directly, but tailored by unseen forces