this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2023
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The article just says we don't have free will over and over again, but doesn't explain why that would be the case or what research has been done to back it up. Instead just says this dude wrote a book.
It has a paragraph with the explanation: Basically he says our behaviors are driven by our brain chemistry, genetics, and biases formed by prior events. Every decision we make is a culmination of those things. We think we're in control, but we're really just following a pre-ordained script.
Can't decide if I'm onboard with that. Definitely not onboard with letting criminals off the hook for bad deeds. If your "brain script" leads you to kill, you just need to be removed from society. Sorry.
While we can identify influences that have common outcomes, the fact that there are different outcomes at an individual level supports free will. Free will does not mean you are free from influence, just that there is an opportunity to make a choice.
Poverty leading to increased crime does not result in everyone in poverty committing crimes.
Different outcomes at an individual level supports the idea that individual humans are not exact copies existing in the exact same environment. If on the other hand different outcomes does support free will then the fact that electrons put through the same process (influences) can end up with different spin-states means that electrons have free will.