Do you really think you will decide whether to press that “Read More” button?

Do you really think you will decide whether to press that “Read More” button?

Pause for a moment…

Whether you read this post or scroll past it – your choice was never really yours.

Just like every decision you once believed you made.

Let me tell you the story.

In 1983, neuroscientist Benjamin Libet conducted one of the most unsettling experiments in the history of brain science.

He asked participants to move their finger whenever they “felt” like it –
and then report the exact moment they became aware of the urge to move.
Meanwhile, their brains were being monitored by an EEG.

The result?

The brain began sending the motor command 350 milliseconds before the participants consciously felt the urge.

What does this mean?

The brain made the decision first.
It began preparing the body to move…
And only after that did you feel like you wanted to move.

Your mind decided – then told you later.

Free will wasn’t the cause.
It was just the commentary, arriving late to the show.

And here… a devastating philosophical question explodes:

If your brain acts before your awareness decides…
Is your awareness ever truly free?
Or are you just receiving your brain’s orders –
Then convincing yourself that you chose?

Maybe what we call “will”…
Is nothing more than the echo of a decision our mind already made –
An echo we hear too late… and swear it was our voice.

In Margins of Perception, we pause at this very experiment –
Not just as a curious tale of science,
But as a window into the fragile illusion of our internal freedom.

Where the real question becomes:
What is freedom,
If my brain decides in advance – then lets me feel like I decided?