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This chapter connects our arguments about agency and autonomy in chapters 2-4 to conceptions of freedom and its value. We argue that freedom has two fundamental conditions: that persons be undominated by others and that they have an adequate degree of autonomy and agency. We then explain that algorithmic systems can threaten both the domination-based and the agency-based requirements, either by facilitating domination or by exploiting weaknesses in human agency. We explicate these types of threats as three sorts of challenges to freedom. The first are “affective challenges,” which involve the role of affective, nonconscious processes (such as fear, anger, and addiction) in human behavior and decision-making. These processes, we argue, interfere with our procedural independence, thereby threatening persons’ freedom by undermining autonomy. The second are “deliberative challenges.” These involve strategic exploitation of the fact that human cognition and decision-making are limited. These challenges also relate to our procedural independence, but they do not so much interfere with it as they exploit its natural limits. A third sort of challenge, which we describe as “social challenges,” involve toxic social and relational environments. These threaten our substantive independence and thus, our freedom.
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