Even if that WAS the case though ,that would ALSO mean that
   believing we have free will and are responsible for the
   consequences of our actions is _also_ a result of such
   programming... as would be believing we have no choice in the
   matter would be a result of such programming. So, it makes
   trying to figure out "which is which" kind of a moot point.
   Instead, we'd have to go up a layer of abstraction, since
   there's no way for being within the system to see outside of the
   system, as you say. Issues of pragmatics come into play then.
   What's the better choice? (or non-choice, since there's no way
   for us to know which is the truth from within it and there's no
   way for us to get outside of it. Even if an alien species told
   us everything humanity is seeing wrong, we still couldn't really
   see it from an objective perspecive because we'd STILL be within
   that system ourselves).