There is no free will.

I'm looking forward to a well argued debate from both sides. Free Will, I have no objections to Con's definition of free will, however I would like to add to it or narrow it down a bit. Free will. Free (def 1-4 no applicable) 5. exempt from external authority, interference, restriction, ext. , as a person or one's will, thought, choice, actions, ext. , independent, unrestricted. . http://dictionary.reference.com... Will 1. Used to express desire, choice, willingness or consent. . http://www.merriam-webster.com... Free Will=unrestricted choice Why did I choose left instead of right? Why did I choose to talk to the blond instead of the brunette? Why do I choose to watch football and not golf? Why do I choose to sit in the back of the classroom instead of the front? What directs my choices? Do they hang in thin air? Are they just randomness? Are my choices governed by something I didn't choose? I will begin by acknowledging that we all feel as though we have free will. It seems as though the best evidence for free will is that we feel like we have it. I would like to take a moment to try and undermine our confidence in what we feel is true. We intuitively feel as though we have free will. But, we intuitively feel as though a rock is a solid object. Rocks are made of atoms. Atoms are 99.9999999999996% empty space. (1) Therefore, rocks are 99.9999999999996% empty space. What we think is intuitively true regarding rocks is very wrong. When we observe our world, we think it looks the way we see it. We intuitively think the world we see, looks the way we see it. This is also wrong. Humans see only 10% of all light wave lengths. When we look out our windows, we are missing 90% of the light spectrum. (2) The world we see, doesn't look anything like the world that really is. We should use these examples to call into question how reliable our intuitions are. We intuitively feel as though we have free will. I think we are wrong, just like we are wrong about the rocks and the authentic picture of the world. 1. . http://education.jlab.org... 2. . http://physics.stackexchange.com... Clues that shed light on the notion of free will. Lets look at some human behavior characteristics and see what they say regarding free will. 1. A diverse set of opinions. No two humans would agree on every single preference, perspective or opinion. 2. Drugs. When a human is under the influence of drugs their behavior will often change. 3. Disease. When a human brain suffers from disease the behavior of the person can change. 4. Injury. When the human brains suffers from an injury the behavior of the person can change. 5. Aging. As the human brain ages the behavior of the person can change. 6. Intelligence. How intelligent an individual is can influence their conclusions, conclusions influence choices. 7. Preferences. Human beings have clear preferences. One person may prefer blondes to brunettes, tall people to short, raining days to sunny days, books to movies 8. Personality traits. Introvert, outgoing, shy, analytical, whimsical, serious, comedic, ext. 9. Phobias. Some humans have strong phobias, heights, small places, crowds, public speaking, ext. There are probably more categories. However, these should be enough to take a few very big chunks out of the notion of free will. So lets look at them a bit closer. Free will=choice unrestricted. Drugs, disease, injury and aging all clearly effect how a person behaves or what choices they will make. These four categories physically effect brain structure; drugs through chemicals, disease through decay, injury through damage, aging is also decay. This tells us that physical aspects of brain make up influences decisions. A person may suffer from Alzheimer's disease and make very different choices that when they didn't have the disease. The disease has changed the person and it has effected their choices. Free will=unrestricted choice, free choice has been violated by the disease, therefore no free will. Free will=unrestricted choice. Preferences, personality traits, and phobias, these traits aren't chosen traits. A person doesn't prefer to prefer blondes. A person just prefers blondes. Preferences aren't chosen. A person doesn't choose to be an introvert. Personality traits aren't chosen. Think of a strong personality trait you have. Did you choose it? Phobias aren't chosen traits. A person may spend years in therapy trying to get over a fear of speaking in public. We have clear examples of personality traits that aren't chosen by us, yet these traits do effect our choices. If we haven't chosen the preferences, and the preferences guide our choices, then we don't have free will=unrestricted choice. We have clear physical examples of how choice is effect by the material brain through drugs, disease, injury and aging. If choice is effected by the material brain, then choice isn't unrestricted. We have examples of personality traits that also effect the choices we make, intelligence, phobias, and preferences. If these aren't chosen by us, yet they effect the decisions we make, then our choice isn't unrestricted. Lets look at a few examples to see this work. E1. Bob prefers blondes. Bob didn't choose this preference. Bob is sitting in a coffee shop. Two girls sit at a table near Bob, one blond and one brunette. Bob's biological desire to procreate motivates Bob to approach the girls. (biological desire to procreate isn't chosen) Bob has a preference for blond girls. (preferences aren't chosen) Bob talks to the blond girl first. From Bob's perspective, Bob feels as though his actions have been chosen by Bob. He feels this way because the motivation comes from Bob. But what drives the motivation isn't chosen by Bob. If what drives the motivation isn't chosen by Bob, then the choices that Bob makes, due to the motivation, aren't Bob's choices. How does Bob have free will? E2. Bob at breakfast. Toast with a choice of milk/orange juice/coffee. Bob "decides" to select coffee. But why does Bob choose the coffee? Bob stayed up late last night watching a football game. Bob wants caffeine, Bob chooses coffee. Why did Bob stay up late to watch the football game? Bob's favorite team is the Dallas Cowboys. They were on. Why is Bob's favorite team the Dallas Cowboys? When Bob was a kid, Bob lived in Colorado. One year, the Denver Broncos made it to the Super Bowl. Everyone was cheering about how great the Broncos were. Bob has a personality trait were he doesn't like following the group. Bob chose to root for the team the Broncos were playing against in the Super Bowl, the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys won. A few years later, Bob adopted the Cowboys as his favorite team, thinking back to their Super Bowl win against the Broncos. Back to our question, on this morning, why did Bob choose coffee? Because he has a personality trait that motivates him to go against the group. This lead Bob to chose coffee today. Where is Bob's free will? One objection to either example would be to say, "Bob could have chosen the brunette or the milk. Bob doesn't have to follow his preferences. " What would motivate Bob to resist a preference? Maybe another preference. Bob thinks about free will. Bob knows he prefers blondes. Bob doesn't want to flow his preferences, feeling it undermines his desire for free will. Bob then chooses to speak to the brunette first. But what has Bob really done? He prefers blondes. He also prefers to believe he has free will. Bob follows the stronger preference, free will. However, Bob didn't chose to prefer the notion of free will over the preference for blondes. Bob chooses to speak to the brunette because he has followed a stronger preference. This doesn't save free will for Bob. Free will is logically inconsistent with two predominant world views. Naturalism/materialism world view. In a materialistic universe the foundation of all things is matter. Matter follows specific natural laws. All things are made of matter. Humans are made of matter. Humans follow the laws that govern matter. The logical conclusion is that humans must follow the laws that govern matter, therefore no room for free will, unrestricted choice. A soul based world view. In order for a soul to grant us free will, it must have the freedom to make selections or choices independent from outside influences. This doesn't map to what we know about human behavior. First we have clear examples of physical effects to the brain (disease, injury, aging, drugs) effecting decisions. Conclusion, the soul isn't free from the material brain. The soul doesn't have free choice. We also have examples of preferences, phobias, intelligence and personality traits effecting our decisions. Does the soul come with these preferences preloaded? If this is the case, then the soul didn't choose the preferences. If the preferences reside in another location, then the soul is bond by the preferences. Either way, the soul isn't free to choose. It is either preloaded with preferences or the preferences are located somewhere else. In both cases the soul loses free will. We have two dominant world view models that are logically incompatible concerning free will. Free will=unrestricted choice, we clearly don't have unrestricted choice. Therefore we don't have free will. The floor is yours Con. I look forward to your response.