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Reading Holly's struggle with the concept of control, it brought me back (yes, again) to the class' struggle with choice. After all, the question of choice is really a control issue, isn't it?

It seems that much of our discussion has tended towards the conclusion that we don't really have the "free will" we imagined and that our nervous system truly does dictate the course of our behavior. However, as far as our supposed lack of control over this process, I can't help but question the role of learning. Does the brain have a need for novel input on some regular basis? Much like our bodies call for certain nutrients or our genes pull us towards certain compatible mates? Or is picking up a new book, going to class, or watching the Discovery Channel choices we make for ourselves? Learning (at least beyond that required for survival) seems to suggest a matter of choice. Fundamentally, our minds and bodies don't require it for survival... but then again, perhaps optimal survival would?

Either way, it seems to me that the implications of choice on the concept of learning creates another "catch 22" in the understanding of the brain and its workings. If, in fact, we do choose learning, we would be capable of making a choice to alter our own brain structures. And if we were capable of such alteration, then we would be capable of controlling changes in the brain's generation of outputs. Thus the control would be back in our own hands. However, if we do not have a choice in the matter of learning, if the structure of our brains really do take control of those actions, then the brain itself would be causing its own growth and altering its own outputs... and why exactly would it be so common for our brains to engage in such higher thinking? How would this fit into the grand scheme of choice? If we don't have the ability to make the decision to read a new book, why would our brains make it for us?