Name: Free Will
Rating: 3.6 (88 reviews)
Author: Sam Harris

What’s in it for me? Learn why the concept of “free will” is an illusion, and what to do about it.

Are you really in control of your every action? Is the fact that you’re even skimming this text something that you consciously chose to do, out of your own so-called free will?

The answer is no. Free will is an illusion, and the following blinks will explain why.

New insights from neuroscience research shows that how we think and what we do every day has very little to do with our “free will.” We’re not in control, and to better understand why we do what we do, it’s important to better understand exactly how our minds work.

After reading these blinks, you’ll learn

why it’s your brain that’s thirsty, not you;
why a seemingly bloodthirsty murderer doesn’t consciously choose to kill; and
why conservative political policy is based on a scientific fallacy.

You can’t actually control what you do or why you do it. The concept of free will is an illusion.

Here’s a scenario: You realize that you’re thirsty, so you decide to grab a glass of lemonade.

Where did this decision come from?

Many people would say you chose to drink a glass of lemonade out of your own free will. Free will happens when you make a decision – that is, make up your own mind – without being forced or coerced.

So if you want lemonade, and no one's threatening to kill you if you don't, you're exercising free will.

But really, you didn’t decide to get that glass of lemonade – at least not consciously. Perhaps you felt thirsty, but that's a biological function that you can’t directly control.

And why lemonade, exactly? And why now?

Such decisions don't originate from our conscious minds. We don't know what we intend to do until we actually do it.

Researcher Benjamin Libet in his experiments found that he could detect activity in parts of peoples' brains that signaled movement before they decided to move. While participants thought they controlled their own movements, their brains had already decided to move their bodies before they were even aware of it.

This means the underlying reasons behind our actions or decisions are hidden from us. The only way we could fully control our decisions would be if we had complete control over all our brain activity.

The feeling that we control our thoughts and behaviors is an illusion. Our thoughts are inspired by deep biological processes that we simply can’t control, like our genetic makeup.

Think of it this way. Do you control the millions of bacteria in your body? Not at all. So why, then, should we think we are responsible for an equally random set of processes that occur in our brains?

With no free will, we need to rethink how we treat criminals and how we conduct social policies.

The idea that we have no free will holds major implications for society, especially regarding how we deal with crime as well as how we form public policy.

Our general understanding of morality depends on people having the ability to make decisions for themselves. If someone knows something is bad but chooses to do it anyway, we judge her actions as wrong. If a psychopath kills someone “for fun,” we think he should be punished.

Key ideas in Free Will