1. Choice

Choice is defined, in the Oxford Dictionaries Online, as:

1. An act of choosing between two or more possibilities“.

1.1 [mass noun] The right or ability to choose.

1.2 A range of possibilities from which one or more may be chosen.

1.3 A thing or person which is chosen.

“What does choice look like in today's world?” | Krystal D'Costa | May 3, 2016 | Scientific American at https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/what-does-choice-look-like-in-today-s-world/

1.1 What are the conditions for choices?

Broadly speaking, on any path forward, we can choose from:

Condition	Choice path
Placid-clustered environment	Best!
Disturbed-reactive environment	Both~
Turbulent fields	More?

If time only moves one direction, we may never know the results of a path not chosen. If we don't choose, the choices may be made for us.

Collapse?

Strategy	Placid-clustered	Disturbed-reactive	Turbulent field
	←←	Environment	→→
Best	✓	Can be pre-empted by competitors	Can be decimated by external factors
Both	Wastes resources through misplaced suspicions	✓	Can be damaged by other parties flailing
More	Raises questions on value of integration	May be betrayed by alliance partners	✓

Each human being may be part of a family, a community, and/or a nation. Human beings have free will.

We make choices in context. We shape contexts.

Contexts can change.