200 milliseconds of freedom

In 1979, the American psychologist Benjamin Libet conducted his famous experiment, which excited the scientific community, but somehow passed by the masses. But it’s very vain, because he shows the whole monstrous truth about our “free will”.

In short, the essence of the experiment was that electrodes were connected to the subject’s brain to register activity, sensors were used to record movement to the wrist, and a dial was located in front of the eyes. The experiment participant was asked to choose a point in time at which he would like to move his hand, fix this moment on the dial and perform an action. The results were stunning. At first, the work of the brain was discovered, as a result of which he “made a decision”, but only after some time the person reproduced it. Later, the experiment was repeated using the latest equipment and even learned how to predict a decision that has not yet been completed in the case of many subjects. It turned out that what we perceive as a conscious volitional decision is only a consequence of the work of our brain. And he, in turn, decides on the action for about half a second before the mind is aware of this choice. Moreover, each time a person sincerely and confidently believes that everything that happens in the experience, he does according to his own conscious desire. But in the form of “free expression of will” in consciousness, this motive appears approximately 200 milliseconds before the actual action.

In total, only 100-150 milliseconds remain for consciousness on the “right of veto” (in the last 50 milliseconds, direct activation of the corresponding spinal motor neurons, which are responsible for physical activity) has already been taking place in parallel. This experience was repeatedly redone, criticized and redone again, and in general, with all reservations - yes, this is what happens. All our freedom is enclosed in a time period equal to 200 milliseconds!

And then even more interesting processes are connected here. If some kind of behavior pattern has already been formed in the brain in the form of neural connections, then the stronger these connections are, the more trust is in them and the less they are controlled by consciousness. Want to make sure? Try to write some text with your right and left hand. Obviously, in one case the process will occur almost unconsciously, and in the other it will need to be carefully monitored, spending energy on it (as a result of which the brain will be forced to abandon the stupid undertaking, which can be easily felt in the form of its “conscious decision”).

Consider another example. In the morning you wake up awake and overwhelmed, it’s cold and dirty in the street, but you still have to pack up and go to your work that has gone awry. You brush your teeth frowningly, eat a sandwich, drinking it with tea, go out at home, go to the bus stop, take a crowded minibus and then someone steps on your foot. What happens next, I think no one doubts. Now let's think about it. The anger resulting from the above, appears deliberately or not? And how many of us can get rid of it? Depending on the level of development of consciousness, the further course of events can be controlled, but anger always arises regardless of our desires. Do you still believe in the freedom of your decisions or are we all “slaves of sin”?

By the way, it is this phenomenon that easily explains the effect of deja vu, when due to a malfunction of the brain, the border of 200 milliseconds is overcome and consciousness takes a direct part in the formation of the solution. The effect itself occurs at the moment when the mind is repeatedly informed by the brain of the decision.

Thus, it turns out that we are just high-tech biological computers with the possibility of self-training and reprogramming. And all our freedom actually consists in either accepting or rejecting the decisions offered by the brain based on patterns.

If the topic is interesting, then in the future I plan to talk about how exactly you can hack and reprogram your brain.

UPDATE: The article caused a lively discussion, so the topic is interesting for the community. But well-wishers leaked me all the karma, as a result of which I cannot publish the continuation. As I understand it, opinions are divided. Therefore, I propose to do as follows. Those who are interested in letting them wait until I have the opportunity to publish a sequel with explanations, and instead of minus the rest, just ignore this “pseudoscientific nonsense” and don’t read more than the author :)

UPDATE2: I bring here for thirsty scientific evidence and authoritative sources such a video . Thanks to habraiser Devpreview and Pavel Klyucherov

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