Freedom of Choice
We live in a world full of ideas and innovation. We build and destroy. But that wouldn't be possible if we wouldn't have the freedom to do so. In this article we want to explore the idea of freedom and what is needed to be free.
Because this topic is so far reaching, we want to create a second article later.
Freedom - Possibilities and Limits
If we want to do something, we need two fundamental things. We need the idea and the possibility. We want to drink water (the idea), for example, than we would need a place that has water (the possibility). We are able to do almost anything, but we shouldn't. Freedom is not only a right, but also a responsibility.
Lets us be extrem and think about something we would consider "immoral". If we did something "immoral", what would the consequence be? It would be a limitation for the person we did something "immoral" to.
This general idea applies to all kinds of topics, like religion, culture, laws, contracts, copyright, relationships and many more.
Lets take the law as an example and try to figure out, how laws are made to guarantee and restrict the freedom of people. One of the highest laws are the human rights. They discribe what freedom we have and what should happen, if those laws are broken. One is the right of free speech, which is applied and used every day. It is the foundation of all kinds of laws, which are specific for each of their domains. Like the Freedom of press, freedom of choice and freedom of movement. In future articles we will discuss the deeper ideas of freedom.
Responsibility
From an idea to the action, that gives us the result, that we want to achive is only possible if there is a mean to do so. But the result of our actions has always a responsibility. We have the freedom to say and do a lot, but if this freedom is has to be taken is wrong. We need to always make the choice if we take an action or don't. We should consider first the outcome and evaluate our decisions, to make a better world from our actions. Ideas are just a fantasy, which is accompanied by our action to build our world around us. But the ideas don't only build but also destroy and this by design.
Freedom is a responsibility, because the freedom we take can limit the freedom of the people next to us. When you consider taking a freedom as your right, consider your responsibility towards other people. Make choices with others in mind, to keep yourself free from being limited by others as well.
Free without Freedom
A question arises if we think about our actions and how they limit the freedom of others. Can someone be free without the same freedom we have? Yes and no. We are free, because we know what freedoms we have and that we are able to use them. Others don't know their freedoms and are not able to be unfree, because they never knew what free, in the sense of freedom, means. Freedom means to have a choice and to be able (the possibility) to use the choice. If they live in a world, where this choice is not existent. Many factors can limit freedoms, by creating opposing rules and laws that hinder the use of them. If those people know that they should have a freedom, then they know their lack of choice and are unfree.
CYTs Idea of Freedom
For us freedom is a choice. We want to everyone to use every choice they want, but to always consider the resposibility from using it.
Question to everyone: How free are you or how much freedom do you have?
Freedom doesn't have responsibility, It's just an inherit thing that everyone has that changes in shape dependent on your circumstances.
Responsibility, the duty or obligation to take care of something or to be accountable for one's actions
Freedom is only limited by a few things, such as the social contract, laws, and the given societies' conformity. Everyone interacts with freedom's silhouette after the these blankets and masks are layered on top. Contrasting one person's freedom to another person's freedom is like comparing two statues, both people will have different privileges based on their characteristics, setting, social hierarchy, context of their position, and more. The responsibility that you talk about is the due-diligence that a individual needs to assess before performing an action if it acts against, upon, or for another individual. However, within your fence, and the requirement of this type of responsibility isn't an inherit cost of every action, it's only apparent when you sign the social contracts, live under a country, or conform to your given societies expectations to interact with it's services. If a person doesn't go under any of these blankets, you have no responsibility, and there for have the "ultimate" freedom, one with no responsibility to others nor yourself. Responsibility to yourself is only as strong as the cost of disobeying it, if you give it no power, such as never self reconciling, self punishing, or self regulating, then there is no inherit cost of responsibility.
Hello j,
Thank you for your long answer and your explanation of your idea of freedom. We agree on your understanding, that the responsebility is the due-diligence about actions someone might take. We took the approach of the result of an action instead of the thought before the action itself.
But we also think that you are not able to free yourself from the responsebility by just signing out of social contracts. And by doing so, having an "ultimate" freedom, because the missing social interaction is a limitation in your freedom itself, don't you agree? Also, we as human beeings are social creatures and agreed on social terms to fulfill the social need that is inherent in us. We not only have a social responsibility, but also need it, to live in a non self punishing way, like isolation.
Please feel free to argue against it. We are happy to have disscusions and oppositions.
me free hella
"because the missing social interaction is a limitation in your freedom"
Ha spoken like a true extrovert, you have not met the people that don't care for social interaction because those people don't meet other people.
Internet freedom is quickly dispersing in the Clearnet, thankfully we have the I2P network to free us from internet censorship. I find myself debating the cost of sharing the freedom of the I2P network with others, if it became popular it would likely just be another target for censorship. At least the I2P network implements many technologies to prevent censorship and preserve freedom, however those wishing to block access to the network could still do so simply by blocking the type of packets I2P routers send which in my limited experience seem easy to identify. My answer to the question posted by CYT is that I have much freedom in the internet domain where I can maintain anonymity and privacy on non standard networks such as I2P or Tor, however outside of this realm my actions are tracked by many different sources, this in turn limits my actions if only because I don’t want them to know the extent of my knowledge in various domains. I ask a question back to CYT. Is sharing freedom worth it at the cost of your own. For example, is telling others about the freedoms provided by the I2P network worth some of your own freedoms.
Hello Unbanned,
We believe too, that internet freedom is being diminished, but advocate to fight for it. I2P is a way to express yourself, without punishment or judgement. It can destroy order but leaves open spaces for new ideas. We want that more people use I2P, because the strength of the network is, that anonymity is linked to the size of I2P.
We would say, that more people should be invited to I2P, even if possible censorship could arise from doing so. Because the certainty of censorship is not given, by just allowing more people into the network. We hope to have answered you question and hope to see you soon again.
In my opinion, idea is a construct. How do we receive the ideas? You may say that we getting the ideas from the outer, higher world, like the Plato's World of Ideas, but I suppose that we learn them from the education, social institutes, saying less -- from The Discourse. And the influence of this Discourse is almost undeniable for the most people. So, while we live in society, use it's language, symbols and thoughts, we are dealing with Discourse. And it seems like we are trapped here -- because you can't thinking without words and language, but when you do it, you entering Discourse. So I don't think that I have any matter freedoms.
Hello Glitch,
We understand your reasoning, but it leaves out some simple ideas that allow you to still be free. Lets say you were on vacation on a lake and you have really nice memories in your mind about this lake. Whatever discource you have with others or yourself, you could still remember this place without any language or idea of symbols, because it is just reality. So, you could be free in your mind in at least one way.
And discourse is the exchange of information. We would say that your thoughts would not count as an exchange, because it is just you.
If you have some other point, you want to make, just answer here.