Can we live without free will?

New research has reignited the debate about whether humans truly have free will. But what difference would it make if we didn't?

DOES it matter if we have free will? Science has been casting doubt on the concept almost from its beginnings. At first, it was the laws of physics that gave pause for thought. The Newtonian "clockwork universe", in which everything unfolds predictably from any given starting position, seemingly affords little scope for human autonomy.

That deterministic vision was overthrown by the introduction of quantum randomness. This hasn't saved free will, though. On the contrary, it has confused the concept of human agency. But few of us see this as reason to abandon our understanding of how free will operates in our everyday lives.

The evidence against free will from neuroscience is harder to ignore. In a classic experiment in 1982, psychologist Benjamin Libet asked volunteers to sit for a while and then, at their own volition, move a finger. From recordings of their brain activity, he found a signal, dubbed the readiness potential, that came before the volunteers reported they were aware of wanting to move. Libet interpreted this to mean that their brain was preparing to move before they were aware of it - that free will does not really exist.

We find the nonexistence of free will deeply unsettling. The sense of being able to choose one course of action over another is an essential part of being human. If it doesn't exist, why bother striving for success, being nice to strangers or obeying the law? It's all predetermined anyway.

For that reason, recent research suggesting that the pre-conscious signal Libet saw might just be noise in the brain may come as a relief (see "Brain might not stand in the way of free will"). The debate is unlikely to end here. But would it matter even if it was ultimately settled against free will?

Even if we don't have it, we act and feel as though we do. Our certainty can be shaken when we are presented with evidence to the contrary, but only briefly. Even those who deny it exists behave as if they have it. We may find it just as easy to ignore or rationalise away the findings of neuroscience as we have those from physics.

The question of free will is profound and fascinating. But in practical terms it matters less than we might fear. We may not have the ability to choose, but we choose to think we do.

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