‘Free Thinker’

… test the Doctor’s reflexes, first.

Jokes aside, I watched a documentary yesterday about a study where they used sensors and electrodes on the motor cortex of a subject. They found it took 55microseconds between when he thought about moving his finger and when of actually moved.

They then interrupted his attempt to move his finger by using the electrode to move the finger instead. They then did series where he was told to move his finger and the computer either would or wouldn’t randomly stimulate the movement first and he had to report whether he felt like it wad him or the computer doing it.

Subjects disproportionately attributed the motion to the computer even in events where the computer didn’t cause any movement. Suggesting that the subjects had a dramatic reduction in feelings of agency when even the suggestion of outside control was present.