If you are reading this right now it is not because you decided to. I did not decide to write this. Obviously, I did write it, and you are now reading it so how did this happen if neither of us made these decisions? Don’t worry I will tell you, but only because I literally have no choice, or at least that is the argument made in a very thought-provoking book I picked up a while back.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have always thought that I have at least some semblance of control over my life by being able to make my own decisions. Sure, I never pretended to be in control of every variable that could affect my life, but I could decide what to eat for dinner, right? So, one day, when I came across a video of a man named Dr. Sam Harris arguing that there is no possible version of free will can exist, I had little expectation that what I heard would be very convincing. When the video ended I found one of my core beliefs called into question. Dr. Harris’ speech was cogent, concise, and quite amusing. Not only were his arguments very well thought out and delivered, but he was able to explain them in a way that made them seem obvious. This man had basically just convinced me that I simply lacked the ability to influence the course of my life in any meaningful way, in 20 minutes. I wanted to get the whole story, so I “decided” to buy his book.
As I was scanning the shelves at the local bookstore for Dr. Harris’ book expecting an entire tree’s worth of pages full of philosophications, I was surprised to see the title and author’s name on a thin-spine paperback that could have passed for the cliff notes of most of its neighbors. Harris goes after two assumptions that free will requires: 1. that at some point in the past you could have acted differently, and 2. that we are the conscious source of our actions. He argues either all our actions are the result of prior causes, or random events, both of which are not within our control. You do not choose your genes, and you do not choose the environmental stimuli that shapes the microstructure of your brain (Harris has a doctorate in neuroscience). How can you take credit for the thoughts that come out of your mind which is entirely the result of nature and nurture? Where do these thoughts even come from? They seem like they just pop out of your subconscious. Do you control your subconscious thoughts? I don’t. To be in control of your thoughts you would basically be saying you are thinking about thinking each thought.
If we accept the argument that we have no free will, then where does it leave us? This means we are theoretically not responsible for any of our actions. Criminals are simply doing what they were always going to do. It’s not their fault, they’re just unlucky. Basically, their actions are a result of a neurophysiology they had no control of. Do we still punish them? Sam says, of course. As he would say “a grizzly bear isn’t responsible for the fact that it’s a grizzly bear, but a bear really is a bear, and it really will eat you.” We don’t blame bears for being bears or even ascribe free will or premeditation to all their actions. We do take defensive action, however.
Another thought that may arise is, if everything is just cause and effect, and everything is decided, do my choices not matter? Why don’t I just stay home and do nothing? This is a confusion of fatalism and determinism. Staying home and doing nothing is still a choice that will have its own causes, you just didn’t make it for the reasons you thought you did. The things that you do still matter.
I hadn’t really put much thought into any of this before reading the book, yet I tend to agree with most of the arguments put forth. No matter what side of the argument you may be on it is definitely a good read. You can also check out Sam’s lecture on YouTube. Exercise your mind a bit and maybe have a laugh.