Are we actually free from algorithm or technology?

[Jaggy]

Just had a thought, so putting across here to see any of you have any thinking on these.

are we actually free from algorithm or technology or all our actions defined by algorithm i.e. machine? assuming that algorithm not controlling us.

[Early_Adopter]

Maybe... check out 'Wang's Carpets' by Greg Egan to see how far you can push this.

Solipsism is easy to fall into if you think you are a sim/have no free will, and ignoring the world as not existing is not a great idea. Also even if you were having no free will or you were an algorithm, and totally simulated then you'd probably need to behave as if it wasn't the case - after all we seem to be conscious and we feel that we are non-deterministic - or at lest not deterministic in the way a computer made of transistors is.

You or I may be simple/complicated as opposed to complex, if the former is the case then you can be modeled with less bits than make you up and are in some form compressible, and this from HHGTTG by Douglas Adams could happen to you without too many issues:

"Yes, an electronic brain," said Frankie, "a simple one would suffice."
"A simple one!" wailed Arthur.
"Yeah," said Zaphod with a sudden evil grin, "you'd just have to program it to say What? And I don't understandand Where's the tea?—who'd know the difference?"
"What?" cried Arthur, backing away still further.
"See what I mean?" said Zaphod and howled with pain because of something that Trillian did at that moment.

[Badfilemagic]

100+ years ago people debated whether we had free will or our lives were affected by the whim on n number of gods. Today we’re enlightened, so we debate whether we’re real or are just threads inside a massive alien computer simulation.

I think we are real and I think we’re conscious. Of course, how much of free will is real and how much is just perception after we’ve reacted to unconscious stiumuli is another question.

Regarding algorithms, they’re just a description of a process for doing something. If you think in terms of algorithms, you can describe nearly everything. Most people just call them “routine” or “habit.” So, unless you never repeat yourself, you’re not free from algorithms even if you’re not being manipulated in a completely deterministic system or by the whims of some remote operator.

[Jaggy]

Hello,

Thanks for your response,

My thoughts, since most of our actions now a days are based on the technology/algorithm, for example,  if we search something on internet the results we get is based on software, that means technology is directing us in someway, in other words, machine/algorithm is already controlling us.

What is your opinion?