Mark Hallett, a researcher with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said, “Free will does exist, but it’s a perception, not a power or a driving force. People experience free will. They have the sense they are free.
“The more you scrutinize it, the more you realize you don’t have it,†he said.
That is hardly a new thought. The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said, as Einstein paraphrased it, that “a human can very well do what he wants, but cannot will what he wants.â€
From a NYT article entitled “Free Will: Now You Have It, Now You Don’t” which I came across via Scott Adams’ blog.
Disclaimer: I’m thinking out loud so don’t expect fully constructed arguments…
I’ve been thinking about free will a bit lately and I’m starting to think that we have free will in the same sense as a rabbit, or a monkey or a elephant has free will. No one is pulling our strings, but we’re still a bundle of chemicals, electrical impulses and instincts.
We make decisions, but it is a combination of factors beyond our control that swing the outcome of these decisions.
So we have free will in the sense that nothing is predetermined but our decisions are beyond our direct control and could be swung either way by anything from a single comment made to us last week to a major traumatic event to an extra cup of coffee this morning.
yeah that’s completely as i see it as well miriam. Decisions are made by the brain but “we” don’t have any conscious control over them. We are “free” only in as much as decisions are made by our brains. But we don’t have any control. We’re just along for the ride.
See when you first mentioned the no free will thing I thought your arguments were a load of bollocks. It sort of makes sense now.
Cam and Miriam, have you two seen Ze Frank’s vlog? It’s a daily monologue with huge production value and viewer participation. This guys doing great thins at the forefront of the communal internet and has spoken at TED twice now. I only mention it now as the last two days have been comments on that free will article.
Ze Frank at TEDtalks – http://tedblog.typepad.com/tedblog/2006/08/ze_frank_on_ted.html#
Vid 1 – http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2007/01/010807.html
Vid 2 – http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2007/01/010907.html
Thanks Hugo. I have watched his show before but not lately. Will check it out!