Is every physical process governed by the laws of physics? Is thought a physical process made up of electrical signals between neurons that are made up of molecules that are made up of atoms, etc.? The fact is that I don’t really know the answers to those questions. I only know what I’ve been told. I have, however, compared what I’ve been told to my experience in the real world. Seems like physics holds up pretty well. So, if the answer to the two questions is Yes, then there’s no free will. Atoms, molecules and all the things they make up (including your DNA) are going to do what they’re directed to do by the laws of physics and you have no control over that. No one does. In fact, “you” are a product of those processes.
In a recent episode of the Bob Murphy Show1, occasional co-host, Adam Haman, a free will advocate, mentioned that the burden of proof of whether free will exists is on the determinists (people like me who doubt or outright deny that free will exists) because it contradicts our everyday perception that we do have free will. I disagree, because, for free will to exist, you’d have to show how it is detached from the realities of physics. You’d have to show that neurons aren’t made up of normal matter or that they somehow don’t follow the laws of physics or you’d have to show some process by which they direct matter independently of physics. Maybe they’re made up of a special particle called FreeWillitrons?
To reiterate, I don’t know for sure that free will doesn’t exist; I’m just highly skeptical.
But none of that matters.
It literally makes no difference at all.
Even if we could be sure that free will doesn’t exist, it still wouldn’t matter that all the things we do couldn’t be avoided – because they couldn’t be avoided. I might be tempted to say that, since people have no free will, they shouldn’t be blamed for their actions. But you have no control over whether you blame them. If someone robs your house, it’s unjust to seek compensation for the crime since they couldn’t help it. Except that if you seek compensation, you couldn’t help it!
For all practical purposes, it makes no difference whether free will exists or if it doesn’t. We’re all still going to do what we’re going to do as if we do have free will. From the outside, no one could tell if it existed or not. If you compared a deterministic world to its mirror-image free will world, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. You’d only see people doing things and the fact of their actions is the only thing you’d be able to see. You wouldn’t know if they chose to act or were directed to act.
The free will debate is an interesting one, but ultimately pointless.
1 It’s a great show that I recommend. Really makes you think sometimes and Adam’s appearances make it that much better. It doesn’t matter if I agree with them, their takes are always worth hearing.
