Free Will Exists

I would just like to start by thanking my opponent for the debate, I was partially worried you had dropped it yesterday so I'm glad to see you haven't. I am also glad to see you accepted the BOP. SCIENCEWhat my opponent has presented to you is no longer considered correct information, while some scientists believe that there may no free will they have little to back it up. This study, and studies of this caliber has been addressed many times by various scientists. W. R. Klemm, DVM, PhD in a paper he published titled Free Will is NOT An Illusion [1] stated "Many modern scientists also hold that position and have even performed experiments since the 1980s they say prove it. These experiments supposedly show that the brain makes a subconscious decision before it is realized consciously. In the typical experiment supporting illusory free will, a subject is asked to voluntarily press a button at any time and notice the position of a clock marker when they think they first willed the movement. At the same time, brain activity is monitored over the part of the brain that controls the mechanics of the movement. The startling typical observation is that subjects show brain activity changes before they say they intended to make the movement. In other words the brain issued the command before the conscious mind had a chance to decide to move. All this happens in less than a second, but various scientists have interpreted this to mean that the subconscious mind made the decision to move and the conscious mind only realized the decision later." However Klemm disagrees with them stating "These experiments do not test what they are intended to test and are misinterpreted to support the view of illusory free will." So the studies my opponent has presented are false and misinterpreted in support of his own view. Klemm continues giving his reason for disagreeing:"1) timing of when a free-will event occurred requires introspection, and other research shows that introspective estimates of event timing are not accurate 2) simple finger movements may be performed without much conscious thought and certainly not representative of the conscious decisions and choices required in high-speed conversation or situations where the subconscious mind cannot know ahead of time what to do 3) the brain activity measures have been primitive and incomplete." To address the second point my opponent brings up about Occam’s Razor, Occam's Razor cannot be applied liberally and isn't even a scientifically recognized concept anymore. Occam's Razor came about in the medieval era, that's right the same era that the theory of the world being flat came out. Chris Chatham a professor of Computational Cognitive Neuroscience of Adaptive Control in his article [2] Why The Simplest Theory Is Never The Right One: Occam’s Razor Has A Double Edge he states "there are numerous reasons to suspect that this simple “theory of theories” is itself fundamentally misguided. Nowhere is this more apparent than in physics, the science attempting to uncover the fundamental laws giving rise to reality." So if you let this point stand then you are supporting a theory that states the laws of physics are incorrect, that gravity, which is a complex force, cannot be real because of the assumptions made in defining it. So at this point there is nothing to support scientifically that freewill is illusionary. what we have to see is that the subconscious and conscious minds are interacting with one another constantly. Our subconscious mind governs simple or well-learned tasks, like habits, ingrained prejudices, or flicking our wrists, while conscious mind deals with tasks that require judgment and decisions that are dictated by freewill. What you must understand is that nothing still stands against Free Will thus 0% is controlled by physical forces defined by science leaving 100% open to free will. NON-SCIENCEThis part of the debate can be dismissed entirely, seeing as if I do not adhere to the idea of a god it then doesn't matter what a Jewish theologist said or any theologist said for that matter. It should also be dismissed because of contrary views between religious groups. No religions align completely on any point, not even this one, thus this would no longer be a debate but instead us pulling up different religions that believe in different ideals when it comes to free will. For example:I am a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) we believe that what your describing is called "Foreordination". that essentially god may know the outcome and every detail but its key that we make them, god does not force this upon us but allows us to make these decisions exercising our freewill or as we often refer to it free agency. and seeing as you quoted theologists of a religion I will do the same for my own and hold them too as fact. Our eternal destiny is determined by the use or misuse of our agency. [3]The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints believes:Every individual is free to choose liberty and eternal life or captivity and spiritual death (see 2 Nephi 2:27; Helaman 14:30).Our final state is determined by our own choices (see Galatians 6:7–9; D&C 58:26–29; Alma 41:3–8; 42:27–28).Wilford Woodruff, a prophet in the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints stated "With regard to the rights of the human family, I wish to say that God has given unto all of his children of this dispensation, as he gave unto all of his children of previous dispensations, individual agency. This agency has always been the heritage of man under the rule and government of God. He possessed it in the heaven of heavens before the world was, and the Lord maintained and defended it there against the aggression of Lucifer and those that took sides with him, to the overthrow of Lucifer and one-third part of the heavenly hosts. By virtue of this agency you and I and all mankind are made responsible beings, responsible for the course we pursue, the lives we live, the deeds we do in the body" And if you really want us to look at this theologically notice we are alive, thus even if god knows every detail we don't, we still make decisions uninfluenced by divine powers. And seeing as we aren't influenced that leaves 0% of decisions influenced and 100% free will.Thanks for reading! [1] http://brainblogger.com...[2] http://scienceblogs.com...[3] https://www.lds.org...