How long will it take before people are not wowed by these pop-psych books description of humans being less than the genius overlords somebody buying "the secret" thinks we are?

The thing we need to be scared of is not having our decisions limited or "framed" by "the man" but by ignoring the puppets corporate capitalism has made of us. The free choice that Thaler is so concerned about protecting with his "libertarian paternalism" is just more patronizing of the ignorant public while marketing and political institutions take advantage of the fact that we are utterly predictable and there is no real "choice" about it.

Spinoza reminds us that true freedom only arrives when we realize the illusion of our freedom in the first place. If a modern day society grasped the concepts of cognitive science they would understand the gravity and truth of that statement

That is an interesting take on it.

However, I don't really understand the argument that we don't have any freedom at all. Surely, if we are given choices, then we have freedom to choose from them. Even if we don't have complete freedom (which could never work in a modern society), there is still some freedom in our choices.

In terms of consequences, it really doesn't matter if freedom is real or perceived as real. The only thing that ultimately matters is that my choices remain mine alone. Those who tabulate choices for the purpose of determining the predictability of human behavior are mostly wasting their time. In the end, people will act and vote as they wish. So what difference does one philosopher or the other really make? I decide for ME. That's the rule...

It might not matter to you whether or not freedom is real but the gambling industry is happy that they can rake in profits and victimize a portion of our population while we blame the addicts for "making poor choices."

The statement "people do as they wish" is circular and thus makes little sense. It doesnt matter what people "wish," but it does matter that people can take advantage of others all under the auspices of "I didnt make him do it" "people have to learn on their own" " people do as they wish!"

Choice is everything. Even gambling addicts know that their addiction began with a personal choice. Las Vegas doesn't victimize anyone. People line up for victimization in your specific example. Sorry, but freedom of choice is absolute, it's just that consequences have nothing to do with freedom...