You're Not a Puppet
The Paradox of Choice in a Deterministic Brain
Here's a paradox: If your brain operates deterministically—meaning identical conditions produce identical outcomes—then how can you genuinely choose anything? If you don't make genuine choices, you would be a biological puppet, directed only by the strings of physics. This fear makes sense, even though you know from experience that you affect your future.
But how is it that you have agency, or the ability to make choices that alter the course of your life? The answer involves using constraints to shape your future responses. You can't change your brain's stimuli, so you have to change the processing of those stimuli. And it's that processing that defines you as a person.
Constraints Enable Agency
Here's key insight #1: Your brain's constraints aren't restrictions but create possibility.
Linguists like Noam Chomsky have shown that grammar rules don't limit expression but enable infinite possible sentences. Without constraints on words, grammar, and syntax, the letters and punctuation would create endless strings of characters without any meaning. It's the constraints of language that allow the generation of words and sentences with infinite meaning.
This directly parallels how the brain works. Random neural firing would have infinite possibilities but lack coherent thought. Constraints greatly restrict the neural firing patterns while enabling infinite meaningful thoughts. Your neural architecture uses constraints to build pathways that guide your thinking.
Philosopher Alicia Juarrero writes about context-dependent constraints, showing that the brain's immense complexity creates genuine influence by playing a causal role. Your neural pathways function as these types of constraints, enabling coherent and purposeful thinking.
You Are Your Neural Patterns
Here's key insight #2: You are your brain's neural patterns.
Your brain has 80 billion neurons with hundreds of trillions of connections. This isn't just computational power—it's you. When those patterns fire, that is you making choices.
When a musician improvises, they're not fighting their neural patterns—their unique patterns are their creativity. Similarly, authors reshape their neural architecture over years of practice, creating their unique writing voice. Their creativity is both deterministic and authentically theirs.
Your neural patterns don't control you, but the opposite: you are your neural patterns.
Rapid Change Happens Automatically
Now for key insight #3: Your brain reshapes itself moment by moment.
Most of us have tried learning another language. Learning a language rewires your brain through deterministic processes. You're rebuilding your brain's architecture through use. While language acquisition seems gradual, it's remarkable how quickly neural changes occur.
Neuroscience research shows how neurons can change their firing patterns in milliseconds. Take practicing guitar: If you mess up a guitar chord, neurons immediately adjust their firing criteria. Every practice session modifies millions of synapses, rewiring your capacity to play the chord successfully.
You improve and learn through practice by deterministically adjusting your neural patterns. Despite its foundations in automatic processes, we accept these neural modifications as genuine choice and self-improvement.
The Bottom Line
You're not a puppet—you're a magnificently complex system authoring your own neural architecture through your daily choices. Every decision you make, every habit you form, and every skill you develop are authentic expressions of you.
As the framework's five steps show, these expressions become permanent features of reality. And because of that, every choice matters infinitely. Let's make them count.
Ready to explore these ideas further? Check out the framework Overview, join our Community, plus subscribe for insights on living with conscious permanence.
© 2025 Cory Lanker. This work is licensed under Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).