Free will an illusion created by brain: Study

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Free will might be an illusion created by our brain, scientists might have proved. Humans are convinced that they make conscious choices as they live their lives. But instead it may be that the brain just convinces itself that it made a free choice from the available options after the decision is made.
The idea was tested out by tricking subjects into believing they had made a choice before the consequences of that choice could actually be seen. In the test, people were made to believe they had taken a decision using free will -even though that was impossible.
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m.timesofindia.com/tech/computing/Free-will-an-illusion-created-by-brain-Study/articleshow/52071763.cms
 
It reads more like the research shows people rationalize what happens in their lives, not that we lack free will to make a choice between options.

Disappointed, none of the links actually went to the source research.
 
I read where people claimed that cause and effect eliminates the concept of “free will.”

They argue that the choices we make, are actually the effect from a biological cause in the body.

To some extent this is true especially as scientist have found that rage is caused by chemical imbalances in the brain during a time of stress.

Of course free will would be the person knowing this, would take steps to help reduce the amount of rage or how to control it. Awareness is the key.

A good book where the author opposes such rationalization is, “Who’s in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain” by Michael S. Gazzaniga.

Dr Gazzaniga is a neuro-scientists and does a good job showing that for the most part, we in fact have free will.

The choices we make, may be influenced by various biological and psychological conditions, but in the end, its our choice.

The article in the OP suggests that we merely convince ourselves that we made a free choice.

I’m not accepting this hypothesis.

Jim
 
I’m not willing to accept it, either. I know some of the choices I make, I make freely.
 
I have a free will that’s by the Original Designer - no fake one! I keep trying to get a handle on it, occasionally its run away with my self control! :rolleyes:
 
Illusions involve deception. Exactly what is being deceived and who is trying to pull off the deception? If there is no free will then this study was the result of material necessity not researchers using reason to reach a conclusion. If we don’t have minds with reason and free will then the study is meaningless. If we believe the headline the research is a farce.
 
Whether the conscious mind or subconscious mind makes the decision, it was still made by us. Why do they not consider the subconscious to be a part of us?
 
This isn’t a particularly new idea; look up the work of Benjamin Libet, for example. 🙂

However, even if “free will” cannot be explained on the basis of brain function alone, it exists - as a property of the human soul, which can never be reduced to simple neuroscience. 😉
 
I have always held “free will” to be to a great extent, a mirage, so this does not surprise me.

ICXC NIKA
 
GEddie said:
I have always held “free will” to be to a great extent, a mirage, so this does not surprise me.

ICXC NIKA
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o.O

Wouldn’t free will being a mirage contradict a lot of what we believe?
 
Only if one held that free will was altogether a mirage.

Admitting that we are a great deal **less **free than we imagine just admits our weakness and limitations.

ICXC NIKA.
 
GEddie said:
Only if one held that free will was altogether a mirage.

Admitting that we are a great deal **less **free than we imagine just admits our weakness and limitations.

ICXC NIKA.
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That makes sense, though it’s still a little odd. If there’s no free will, or even less free will, then how do we explain the radical shifts in behavior we see in people? If it were just based on brain chemistry, wouldn’t it make more sense for someone to keep doing what they’ve been doing?
 
GEddie said:
Only if one held that free will was altogether a mirage.

Admitting that we are a great deal **less **free than we imagine just admits our weakness and limitations.

ICXC NIKA.
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👍

Excellent post. We often confuse “free will” with an absolute and unfettered freedom, whereas it is often constrained by physical, psychological, environmental and moral / spiritual factors.
 
ProdglArchitect said:
That makes sense, though it’s still a little odd. If there’s no free will, or even less free will, then how do we explain the radical shifts in behavior we see in people? If it were just based on brain chemistry, wouldn’t it make more sense for someone to keep doing what they’ve been doing?
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Only if body chemistry (not just brain) were very stable. It is not.

The slightest change in the chemistry of our bodies can have profound changes in the brain, causing deep swings in someone’s perceptions or behavior; and that is in fact what we observe.

ICXC NIKA
 
Well, we dont really have true free will, (im referring to the religious aspect here), if we make the ‘wrong’ choice, (in that we choose to live our earthly lives without God in it), if hell is truly the place of terrible punishment it is said to be, then those people are being punished for exercising their free will to make a choice.

As long as you do not harm anyone or infringe upon anothers free will, really, there should be no right or wrong choices, they would all be neutral, so if you willingly chose to live your life without God in it, when you die, you would go to a neutral place, not as pleasurable as heaven, not as terrible as hell.
 
GEddie said:
Only if body chemistry (not just brain) were very stable. It is not.

The slightest change in the chemistry of our bodies can have profound changes in the brain, causing deep swings in someone’s perceptions or behavior; and that is in fact what we observe.

ICXC NIKA
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True, but the brain and body as a whole have marvelously effective abilities to “right the ship”, as it were. If that were not so, we would all die as soon as the environment fell much below 98.6 degrees, for example. If we fell asleep, we would never wake up, but we wouldn’t fall asleep in the first place.
 
Ridgerunner said:
True, but the brain and body as a whole have marvelously effective abilities to “right the ship”, as it were. If that were not so, we would all die as soon as the environment fell much below 98.6 degrees, for example. If we fell asleep, we would never wake up, but we wouldn’t fall asleep in the first place.
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Of course our bodies are remarkably buffered and self-governing chemical engines; but the mind is far less stable than the body as a whole, and can be affected by shifts in the chemistry that come nowhere near a life-critical condition.

ICXC NIKA
 
Reminds me of what I read years ago, I think in a book by Thomas Merton.

“Freedom isn’t necessarily the privilege of having the choice between good and evil, but the ability to chose only good.”

How often we choose evil, thinking it will be good for us, only to suffer from the consequence of having made the wrong choice ?

Jim
 
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