Choice and Decisions

Does one have freedom of choice ? And if so what is the fundamental explanation of the act of choosing Or choice. Got think about it after following the elections in the us and in India the last week or so. Democracy is based on the fundamental premise that a choice exists and that expression of that choice is the power of the ballot. 

Thinking further and expanding on the concept- Choice appears to exist everywhere and at all times . Of course a quantum physicist can make an argument negating the existence of choice - Brain scanners have enabled us to peer inside a living person’s skull, revealing intricate networks of neurons and allowing scientists to reach agreement that these networks are shaped by both genes and environment. But there is also agreement in the scientific community that the firing of neurons determines not just some or most but all of our thoughts, hopes, memories and dreams. We also know changes to brain chemistry can alter behavior. Brain chemistry is linked to physics and in turn to quantum physics. In other words the contemporary scientific image of human behavior is one of neurons firing, causing other neurons to fire, causing our thoughts and deeds, in an unbroken chain that stretches back to our birth and beyond. In principle, we are therefore completely predictable. If we could understand any individual’s brain architecture and chemistry well enough, we could, in theory, predict that individual’s response to any given stimulus with 100 percent accuracy. Which in other words means that choice is an illusion.  A concept most eloquently explained in the thought experiment- Schrödinger’s cat. The cat is alive and dead at the same time while inside the box. 

It then appears that choosing is not the issue, nor is the illusion of choice the issue - the problem really is making a decision. To figure out the actual state of the cat one has to decide to open the box and become an observer. Quantum physicists will claim that the act of observing has a direct impact on what is being observed i.e the cats life will depend on you lifting the box to see whether the cat is alive. 

Similarly one can be presented with a bouquet of choices to choose from but if one doesn’t chose (decide and act) Choice won’t matter will it ? 

Then the question really is how does one decide - what would be the best path to take and so on... 

one could refuse to see the choice and refuse to decide as demonstrated last week in the elections - it still is a decision to not see the writing on the wall 

Or

Engage with the choices and make an informed decision- nice loaded sentence... informed decision? What does it even mean ? 

The easiest way to explain “informed decision” is to view it from the lenses of a project manger. I will explain why a project manager makes a list of actions and activities that need to be completed in a particular duration of time to consider the project a success. Along the way the project manger may be faced with difficulties in executing an action or a group of actions and will need to come up with a solution to the difficulties. Normally a project manger would have foreseen such difficulties and listed them in a risk register with some probability assigned and also possible mitigation for the difficulties. This allows the project manger to make informed decisions when faced with difficulties. 

In a similar manner most of us will make decisions based on our previous experience and thoughts on possible outcome of said decisions. It might be done subconsciously in most decisions but the truly successful people are those that make informed decisions always; that is always look at the risk and rewards of said decisions and then present the final choice.  It’s not easy as many times our emotions get the better of us and we may decide on doing something which we regret later. 

One needs to hit the right balance of emotion and hard logic (risk and reward) to ensure that there are no regrets in the future when making decisions - the choices presented real or imaginary won’t matter ; it’s the outcome of the decision that is important, one has to own that outcome till the end. 

C