From Andrew Lefton
Helen Knight claims that our smartphones are subtly removing our ability to choose, or even to make a decision (14 April, p 36). I’m not sure that the notion of free will has been settled, but the idea that clever marketing algorithms can deprive us of our ability to choose seems specious.
No doubt there are many individuals who would just as soon abandon their lives to Apple’s virtual assistant Siri and “her” kind, but for those of us who continue to use “smart” phones while at the same time not abandoning our thought processes, the world will remain full of choice.
Gaithersburg, Maryland, US
