And how do you increase retention? Induce addiction and FOMO, promote rage bait, fake news... anything that creates engagement, no matter the side effects to the users.
We have seen how this all works, so yes, it is something to worry about.
I also think that free will may not exist, but I'm not sure why. Either everything can be calculated in advance as you say, or everything is fundamentally random because quantum mechanics. But maybe there's something at the edge where neither of these explanations are correct? What happens there?
"You wouldn't download a RAM..."