Rough Draft Essay

PAPER #2

Readings: “Mark Zuckerberg’s War on Free Will,” by Franklin Foer

“The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food,” by Michael Moss

Michael Moss, in researching why unhealthy eating habits are becoming increasingly common, discovered that “it’s not just poor willpower on the part of the consumer and a give-the-people-what-they-want attitude on the food manufacturers … [but] a conscious effort … to get people hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive” (260). While it is consumers who choose and ultimately eat these foods despite other options and, in many cases, awareness of health principles, food companies use science and marketing to “optimize” their profits by enticing consumers. This may relate to Franklin Foer’s observations about how social networks and algorithms are influencing while seemingly also empowering users, often opaquely and not always in users’ interests. In light of these ideas, consider:

To what extent does freedom of choice exist for individuals, and who is ultimately responsible when an individual behaves in ways against his or her own interest? Why?

Brainstorming questions

These are not questions you are required to answer or need to use in your essay, but they might help kickstart the writing process.

Remember: you do not need to answer the question(s) exactly as written, and you especially do not need to answer every part of the prompt. Let it guide you to an interesting, insightful, specific idea and then pursue it.
What does or would it mean to have freedom of choice? Is it possible? Is it inevitable? What limits and enables it?
In what circumstances is the individual responsible for his/her behavior? When is s/he not? Is it ever only one or the other?
What compels people to act against their own interests? When they do, do they know it? Can they have conflicting or self-contradictory interests?
Is there a difference between having a choice and having responsibility? What is it? Why is it significant?

Paper must have quotes from both readings in each body paragraph.
No other sources but the two texts above