The more I read about whether free will exists, the less interested I am in the question. Even if the guy talking about it looks *just* enough like Robert Plant to have caught my eye on the website.

I agree I can’t make choices independently from a huge array of influences from a billion different sources, but the product of all those effects *is what I am*, so what does that even mean? It’s not that the answer to the question is no; it’s just a flawed question. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/16/science/free-will-sapolsky.html

@samuel_wade

IMO "free will" is a religious or metaphysical concept, while "agency" is a useful idea perfectly compatible with scientific materialism. Agency is a useful abstraction for how those billion influences are turned into concrete and specific actions by a human actor.

@samuel_wade free will is a tiny little thing aside love that remains if you remove all your thoughts and emotions, all your obligations (perhaps in meditation)