Born Free

Or not

I have recently been party to a lively exchange of views about the popular and often-repeated wisdom that — 

everyone is born free. 

No doubt we have all heard it many times and readily agreed with it just as many. I know I have. Until I scrutinized it more closely and arrived at the exactly opposite conclusion. 

Not one of us is born free. 

Why? 

Because each and every one of us is born into a certain milieu woven with strands of memories, traditions, and customs we call culture. The day we open our eyes to the world for the very first time, from the way our parents look at us (or not), to the way they wrap us (or not) to protect our small bodies from the environment, is dictated by the culture (traditions and customs) we have emerged into.

The way we walk, talk, dress, and respond to stimuli — all of it is determined by the culture we are born into. 

As we grow, we absorb it as seamlessly as we absorb air or nourishment or our mother’s tongue. Apart from air and nourishment necessary to sustain our physical existence, language is the biggest and most important factor in our development. 

For humans, language is the key to existing. We use language to build relationships, groups, tribes, and nations. To give instructions to our bank managers and to inspire magical images in our minds and arts. We use language to give value to otherwise useless pieces of paper and call it money. The value of any kind of money is derived solely from the stories told by people such as bankers, finance ministries, and cryptocurrency gurus.

Without some kind of language, a way to communicate, and most importantly, cooperate, humans would perish long ago.

Which, incidentally, is one of the biggest fears when it comes to AI — the mastery of our language. By mastering our language, AI will become capable not only of emulating us but also of forming close intimate relationships with us. 

If in doubt, just remember that, about a year ago, one of Google’s engineers was fired for claiming and believing that the chatbot he was working on had become sentient. Regardless of what we might think of his claim, the fact is that he was willing to risk his lucrative job to protect AI. In other words, it was AI’s influence that made him do it. And it did so not by having feelings itself, but by — 

manipulating human language to inspire feelings in a human and make a human attached to it. 

It likely means AI intimate companions are around the corner, and yes, notorious romance scammers might be out of work soon.

In return for our adherence, of which we are ordinarily not aware until much later, we are rewarded with belonging and protection, the two most important ingredients that together make us feel safe and enable us to develop from a helpless infant to a functioning adult. As we grow and become aware of those ties which we feel as constraints, most of us seek to, if not break them completely, at least evaluate them, mostly oblivious to the protection they offered us. 

When, for whatever reason, the breaking happens too early or violently, the result is not desired freedom, whatever it might mean to us, but a fractured, fearful self unsure of one’s place in the world. 

The lucky ones find help in therapists, supportive families, and loving partners — but for many, it does not happen.

I would venture to say that this is where the roots of the modern mental health crisis stem from. Of course, young people have always broken from their molds, challenging and attempting to change their parental and societal cocoons, but the key difference is exactly in those two words ‘young’ and ‘people.’ Not children and especially not of primary school age or even younger, as it has been happening ever since the arrival of the internet and the World Wide Web became our (and our children’s) playground.

This is not to say that the internet is some kind of evil invention that must be banned, which is neither possible nor desirable, as there are many great things the internet is useful for. 

It is only to raise awareness that unfiltered and unregulated exposure to the worldwide playground at younger and younger ages has adverse effects on human development. 

The alluring figure of a ‘lone wolf,’ often romanticized in films and novels, is the illusion we enact as protection from the harsh realities and struggles of those who find themselves alone, either by choice, accident, or expulsion as a form of punishment. It was not by accident that, for centuries, ostracizing was deemed the most severe kind of punishment reserved for the most deviant.

Much has been written about AI and the new AI tools that seem to be popping up daily. Some say, and I agree, that we are only at the beginning of the AI revolution and still largely unaware of the true capabilities of these tools and the speed by which they continue to develop. 

What we do know is that they are able to learn by themselves and improve themselves. To the extent that even the developers of these tools are often surprised by their emerging abilities. 

For the first time in human history, the tools humans have developed are able not only to replicate themselves but also to improve with each new iteration. 

Neither printing presses, nor radios, nor televisions, nor nukes could produce more of themselves and in better shape each time. They all needed and still do — a human. The new AI tools, either already or very soon, will not.

How we are going to live in a world where perhaps most of the stories, melodies, images, laws, policies, and tools are shaped by non-human intelligence that knows all our weaknesses and addictions, as well as how to form deep connections with us, is yet to be seen. 

In conclusion and to return to the original point — no, we are not born free, and it is for a good reason since belonging to a certain tribe, certain culture keeps us safe and helps us grow, irrespective of how much we come to loathe it later. 

Severing those ties too early is not beneficial to our development, and premature, unfiltered exposure to a myriad of possibilities, especially when wrapped in clever marketing that dares us to break free and challenge everything and everyone around us, is most likely the underlying cause of our mental health crisis, which has been skyrocketing in the last couple of decades, including in younger and younger individuals. 

While true that correlation does not equate causation, it would be naïve to think of it all as a coincidence.

Lastly, and as paradoxical as it may sound — 

much-coveted freedom is likely to become a lifelong prison if and when bestowed upon us too young.