Scientific evidence that you probably don’t have free will
The evidence seems pretty weak to me, but it’s a fun read. Within the article, you’ll find the word “epistemological” which is a form of the word of the day, yesterday.
Humans have debated the issue of free will for millennia. But over the past several years, while the philosophers continue to argue about the metaphysical underpinnings of human choice, an increasing number of neuroscientists have started to tackle the issue head on — quite literally. And some of them believe that their experiments reveal that our subjective experience of freedom may be nothing more than an illusion. Here’s why you probably don’t have free will.
I wonder what force impelled Dvorsky to write this article. What series of involuntary events and stimuli brought him to the keyboard of a machine of some sort and moved his fingers, the impulses of the movements beginning before conscious awareness, to write a complex combination of characters and spaces. I suppose that evolution has brought us to this point in human development with no free will or freely chosen decisions by anyone. Makes human history seem worthless.
Heh, very clever title!
Thanks.
And, of course, I feel compelled to leave this comment…I’ve recently read David Eagleman’s book INCOGNITO, in which he suggests that, based on all the available neurological evidence, free will is an illusion (albeit a useful and even necessary one); and I’ve just read a brief chapter on Spinoza (in Simon May’s LOVE: A HISTORY), who apparently also rejected free will. My opinion has always been: all my actions may be predetermined and beyond my control, but when I get up tomorrow morning (assuming I do), I’m still going to have to decide what shirt to wear. If free will is an illusion, it’s one we’re stuck with, and I suggest we make the most of it (but then, I would say that, wouldn’t I?)