Friday, December 22, 2006

Your will is not your own

The Miracle of Science

The Economist has an interesting bit on Free Will, or the ever decreasing residuum that is all that remains after modern neuroscience has had its way.  I’ve often wondered when drunk whether we really had that much free will.  I like the idea of free will, but it seems to me that there is a lot less of it than most people suppose.  To the extent that I can look inside my head and determine what goes on, often it seems that consciousness is less a matter of choice, but rather one of explanation.  It is a part of my mind that explains or offers a narrative of decisions, impulses or reactions that were happening elsewhere.  Not that I ever bought into any sort of Calvinist predestination - I think that’s a load of crap.  Really, I’m just a self-propelled meat puppet.


Posted by Buckethead on 12/22/06 at 06:40 PM
The Miracle of Science • Permalink