Scientist [Sapolsky], after decades of study, concludes: We don't have free will (opens in new tab)

(phys.org)

4 pointstropsis2y ago7 comments

7 comments

5 comments · 2 top-level

I feel like there's an inherent contradiction in the statement that one has concluded they lack free will.

If you lack free will the conclusion can't be yours, can it?

Even though the conclusion itself may not be a product of free will, the awareness of this conclusion can be consistent with our subjective experience of having the capacity to reason, reflect, and examine our beliefs.

AnimalMuppet2y ago

True, but so what?

Whether or not he had the subjective experience, if he truly has no free will he has no ability to evaluate the evidence any other way than he did, no matter how good the evidence actually is. So if his conclusion is correct, we cannot trust his conclusion.

Or anyone else's. About anything.

Including our own.

If he's right, then science and reason are dead.

1 more reply

31337Logic2y ago· 1 in thread

I freely choose not to accept these results.

Houssameddine2y ago

Just saying it doesn't mean it's true. The point is why you pick that choice, and not the other one. Why you like that color, and don't like that one. Why you fell in love with that person and not another one, and so on... Most of the choices we make we don't know why we made them.

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