By no meaningful index are Americans today among the freest peoples of the world.

In “Stadium,” at the beginning of the “Sovereignty” chapter (Chapter 1), Snyder states that Americans are not as free as they believe. Freedom House, an American organization, ranks 50 countries above the United States based on civil and political liberties. Worse still, the United States scores even lower when considering access to healthcare, pensions, and paid sick leave.

Free people are predictable to themselves but unpredictable to authorities and machines. Unfree people are unpredictable to themselves and predictable to rulers.

In “Declarations and Accommodations,” at the beginning of Chapter 2: Unpredictability, Snyder uses a complex comparison to describe how people act. Free people follow their own values and principles, which might make them act in ways that do not conform to others’ expectations. People who are “unfree” instead conform to expectations and do not hold reliable values or principles. 

Sleep has been the quiet casualty of our unfreedom.

In “Lost Time,” toward the end of Chapter 2, Snyder describes the effects of social media. Not only do algorithms reinforce user engagement, isolate users, and try to manipulate their choices through curated content, but social media also takes a heavy toll on users. Besides collecting and selling personal data, social media has a negative impact on sleep. Many users choose to scroll social media before going to bed, which stimulates their brains and keeps them awake. Snyder advises that screens shouldn’t be the last thing people see before bed, nor should a device with a microprocessor be the last thing someone touches before sleeping.

Negative freedom is the fantasy that the problem is entirely beyond us, and that we can become free simply by removing an obstacle.

In the opening of the fourth chapter, “Factuality,” Snyder describes negative freedom. Instead of describing freedom as an ability to pursue a positive future, negative freedom is used to control people by supplying something that must be removed to attain freedom. Snyder gives the following examples: Marx stated that personal property had to be eliminated, Hitler required the elimination of Jewish people, and many Americans believe that government must be eliminated.

It is not reasonable to expect those who came before us to be ideal. Only tyrants present their predecessors as icons, inert and perfect.

In the middle of “Suns,” in Chapter 4, Snyder uses this statement to reassert that understanding history is necessary for freedom. While discussing the Founders of the United States, he acknowledges that many were slave owners, and their understanding of natural history and science was quite flawed. Their contributions to the Constitution, however, included a Patent Office for the advancement of science, as well as the means to adjust and correct laws as the nation moved forward.

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