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bioemerl  ·  3191 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Free will is back, and maybe we can measure it

    Science is giving us a very powerful and clear way to understand freedom of the will. We have just been looking for it in the wrong place. Instead of using an electron microscope or a brain-scanner, we should go to the zoo.

In other words "We don't actually realize the point behind why people say free will doesn't exist"

    animals need to weigh different factors, explore available options, pursue new alternatives when old strategies don’t work. Together these abilities give all animals, including humans, an entirely natural free will, one that we need precisely because we are not rocks.

In other words "we do not understand what free will is".

We do, as human beings, make decisions based on our environment, the state of our minds, and that's the point. If we know those factors, if we control the state of the mind and the environment, we can predict or cause a person to act in a certain way.

    The chimpanzee therefore has more options: if a juicier treat became available after six seconds, a chimp would be free to choose whether to wait for it, but a chicken would not.

This is not free will.