Freedom requires awareness of options, not just their existence

Evidence

Freedom might be said to describe not only the size of our “option set” but also our awareness of what options there are. That awareness has two degrees. One is conceptual: if you don’t know about a thing, like chocolate ice cream, you can hardly ask for it, much less feel oppressed by the want of it. The second degree of awareness comes after we know about things conceptually and can begin to contemplate them as real choices. I may be aware that man has gone into space but the idea that I might choose to go there myself, while conceivable, is only a notion until I find out that Virgin Galactic has started scheduling flights. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 422

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines freedom as a two-degree awareness of options, distinguishing conceptual knowledge from contemplating them as real choices.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s attention-economy theme: awareness of options is exactly what attention infrastructure either expands or restricts. — connects to: Hayek grounded freedom in the inevitability of ignorance — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 221; Objective possibility constitutes freedom but requires knowing and wanting — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1285; Freedom’s own possibilities rest on the ground of further possibilities (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Objective possibility constitutes freedom but requires knowing and wanting #corroborates (0.85) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1285
• Perceiving possibilities for freedom enables breaking with existing patterns. #exemplifies (0.80) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 13
• Freedom’s own possibilities rest on the ground of further possibilities #expands (0.75)