Free Will. What is it? It's a romantic concept that we are, in fact, in complete control of every decision we make. That if I told to move your finger at a random time that you would have complete control over when this happens and there is some higher form of consciousness that is in control of the propagation of nerve impulses that tell our finger to move. That our choice of music, taste or sexuality is purely a product of our free will. The oxford dictionary defines free will as "the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one’s own discretion." . This definition is an interesting one. Without the constraint of necessity or fate. Keep that in mind.
I'd like to perform a small experiment. At a random time within the next 30 seconds I would like you to extend you pointer finger. Go ...
Now, when you moved your finger, see if you can identify what made you move it at that time. What gave you the urge? Why didn't you move it 10 seconds earlier or later? What gave rise to the thought that said "I'm going to move it now"? Did your free will determine when exactly the neurotransmitters would release to even give rise to the thought "I am going to move my finger now"?
The release of the neurotransmitters from one neuron to another is required for thought propagation, yet we have no conscious control over it, or if we did, what gave rise to the command/thought to release the neurotransmitters? From here we are left with an infinite regress, a chicken and egg scenario. It is well accepted in the scientific literature that changes in the brain (that can be visualized with a brain scan) occur before an individual thought manifests to the point where, in the finger moving paradigm given above, the researchers were able to predict the finger movement before the subjects even were aware they were going to move. How is this free will? If your actions can be predicted before you are consciously aware of them. This is not acting without the constraint of necessity or fate.
Medical conditions that result in too much or too little of a neurotransmitter being released or produced can fundamentally change somebodies personality. Drugs that manipulate the levels of or imitate neurotransmitters can have similar effects. This demonstrates that our personality and thought processes are fundamentally dependent on the release and movement or chemicals in the brain.
Ultimately, our choices depend on a multitude of factors: surroundings, previous experience, and even diet. However, the concept of true free will fails when the neuroscience behind thought propagation is examined.
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The religious use the concept of 'free will' ad nauseam to justify the condemnation of gay men and women. Yet, they also believe that their god is omniscient. What they don't realize is that these two concepts are mutually exclusive.
God knows your future (a requisite for omniscience). This means that there is only one path you can take in your life. God knows every single thought you will have for the rest of your life, meaning those are the only possible thoughts you are able to have. This fundamentally undermines the concept of freewill. If one is to have true free will then their actions should never be able to be predicted, to be able to act "without the constraint of necessity or fate". If god knows your future and has a plan for you, then you are bound by fate so by definition, a contradiction of free will.
Even in the supernatural realm the notion of free will collapses under its own definition.
While it is an attractive and reassuring concept that we are in complete control of the firings of our neurons, in reality it cannot be so. I'm aware this may not sit well with some people and the mind will initially reject this idea, but upon careful consideration it explains a lot of quirks of the human condition.
Free will fails both materialistically and supernaturally as a concept.
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