Technological and social churn threaten the freedom of thought – how do we protect it?

The idea of free speech sparked into life 2,500 years ago in Ancient Greece – in part because it served a politician’s interests. The ability to speak freely was seen as essential for the new Athenian democracy, which the politician Cleisthenes both introduced and benefited from.

Today, we debate the boundaries of free speech around kitchen tables and watercoolers, in the media and in our courtrooms. The right to freedom of thought, however, is more rarely discussed. But thanks to the growing influence of social media, big data and new technology, this “forgotten freedom” needs our urgent attention.

In democratic societies ruled by ballots not bullets, power is won through persuasion. Efforts at persuasion are ramping up: there will be more than 50 national elections involving half the world’s population in 2024, including in seven of the ten most populous countries. The results will shape our century, making it paramount that we protect people’s ability to think and vote freely.

But corporate and political actors know more about how our minds work than we do. They activate our biases rather than appeal to our reason, push us to share information without thinking, and control our attention to the point of addiction.

Advances in neuroscience may heighten this threat to free thought. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerburg are among those in...

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