what you introspect is what there is. The user illusion proposes that consciousness is an evolutionary tool utilized to enhance social behavior and cooperation. Social insects provide an argument against this conclusion as these insects experience social cooperation and complex groupthink. Critics argue that the existence of social insects with extremely small brains falsifies the notion that social behavior requires consciousness, citing that insects have too small brains to be conscious and yet there are observed behaviors among them that for all functional intents and purposes match those of complex social cooperation and manipulation (including hierarchies where each individual has its place among paper wasps and Jack Jumper ants and honey bees sneaking when they lay eggs). These critics also argue that since social behavior in insects and other extremely small-brained animals have evolved multiple times independently, there is no evolutionary difficulty in simple reaction sociality to impose selection pressure for the more nutrient-consuming path of consciousness for sociality. These critics do point out that other evolutionary paths to consciousness are possible, such as critical evaluation that enhances plasticity by criticizing fallible notions, while pointing out that such a critical consciousness would be quite different from the justificatory type proposed by Nørretranders, differences including that a critical consciousness would make individuals more capable of changing their minds instead of justifying and persuading. Free Will Daniel Dennett proposes that human experiences with conscious free will are human biological mechanisms creating a user representation. If consciousness is just the data in the human mind creating a user illusion then this supports the theory that free will may not exist. Many philosophers propose that while free will and consciousness are very separate entities, free will may build upon the idea of consciousness. Free will can be defined philosophically as the ability of an individual to determine the course of their actions uninhibited by any other force. If consciousness does not exist then it can be proposed that humans have little action over their decisions and biology is the driving force behind human decision making. Many philosophers disagree with this as much of human decision making has developed complexities that cannot be solely explained by evolutionary biology. See also Anil Seth, who espouses a similar notion of experienced reality as a hallucination Bicameral mentality Hallucination (artificial intelligence) Illusionism (consciousness) Simulation hypothesis References User interfaces Consciousness studies Artificial intelligence