The last trench of freedom

In the movie Origin (InceptionThe thesis is very interesting and raises the problem of freedom: How free are we in our decisions? How much is there induction in what we do? The thesis is very interesting and raises the problem of freedom: How free are we in our decisions? How much induction is there in what we do? How far does the subconscious work and how far does our conscience work when it comes to acting?

The power of subliminal advertising and its influence in the field of sales has been proven. In fact, in several countries there is legislation that prohibits it in defense of children's rights. And we are all aware of the many impulsive, unreflected decisions we make in our daily lives. None of this surprises us.

But this phenomenon has taken a qualitative leap with the advent of the Internet and Big Data, in which companies can track our interactions with the network and obtain much of our data, including some of which we are not aware. Among other reasons because, even if we are careful and do not provide personal data, everyone we interact with does provide information about us, whether we want it or not. It is easy to recognize this in the highly personalized advertising that reaches us as soon as we open a website or in the news that are supposed to be of interest personally selected for us by Google's algorithms.

The fiction of the film Origin falls short compared to the reality of how manipulable we can be. The problem is not only that they have all our data and, therefore, they can know perfectly well how we think or even which political party we are going to vote for in the next elections before we have decided. They know. But just as they use this knowledge to induce us to buy certain products, in all other areas of life, they can also influence us to think and act in the direction other people want us to.

That is why the last trench of our freedom is in our conscience.

This is radically important for us as Christians.

A Christian is configured by Christ. As St. Paul would say, he has the same thoughts and feelings as Christ. He sees the world and acts on the basis of the values of the Gospel, which are not something abstract, but are incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth. And, as has always been the case, this way of understanding life is radically different from what the world proposes. Many of our brothers and sisters gave their lives, and many continue to give their lives, in order not to betray these principles. They are the martyrs who knew that God had to be obeyed before men, no matter how powerful they were.

But what would happen if someone who wanted to make you think in a certain way could get into your mind and make you think that their thoughts are yours? How to distinguish dreams from reality? How to distinguish your desires from those inserted from your cell phone?

Because the mobile has ceased to be a simple device that allows us to communicate with other people and is much more than a device with various useful applications for our lives. It has literally become our memory -who needs to learn data if they are all in the network?-, in it are our relationships, -that is where we live and interconnect with each other- and even our intelligence has been externalized -why make an effort if it can do our jobs ChatGPT?-.

Many dream of a chip inserted in our brain that allows us to do all that without the need to have the device outside, but the reality is that we are already functioning with the mobile and all its applications as an externalized part of our being.

That is why the battle for freedom is fought within us. We have opened the door through which they can enter our thoughts, our dreams, our desires. And, as in Nolan's movie, we end up thinking that they are really ours who have gotten into our head when our guard was down. That is why a well-formed conscience is the last trench, the definitive one, that we have to defend in the battle for freedom. A conscience that, in the case of Christians, is shaped by the mind and feelings of Christ.

We must be aware of the challenge we have as educators and equip, especially our young people, with an upright conscience, a deep spiritual life and virtues that shape their whole being. Only then will they be able to navigate the stormy seas of the Internet without being shipwrecked.