Free Will: Why You Reading This Blog Might've Been Predicted

The debate over whether or not humans have free will has been raging since the dawn of humanity. However, a recent study published in Science offers a thought-provoking perspective on the topic. The study involved university students who were asked to complete a set of puzzles:

“S­tu­dents were seated at a ta­ble to work on two seem­ingly un­re­lat­ed lan­guage puz­zles. For some stu­dents, the first puz­zle in­clud­ed words re­lat­ed to achieve­ment (such as win or achieve), and for oth­ers it did not. Stu­dents who were ex­posed to achieve­ment words were found to out­per­form the oth­ers on the sec­ond puz­zle.”

So what the hell does this have to do with free will? Apparently lots, because the fact that a simple exposure to positive language impacts your performance implies that your conscious abilities and inclinations are directed by subconscious processes.

In other words, your brain decides what you're going to do, and how well you do it before you even consciously think about it. But wait, doesn't that mean I still have free will, like, my subconsciousness is still part of me, right? Well, kind of. Your subconscious mind is just that, SUBconscious, so you're never aware of it or its endeavors. The very idea of free will is something that hinges on a conscious level. We FEEL as though we make our own choices. But doesn't the fact that something we're not aware of, pre-determining our actions and choices, mean that we're not as free willed as we'd like to think? No one has a concrete answer to that, but it's definitely something to think about.

The main article's done, but keep reading if you'd like to know my perspective on free will.


Now, my perspective on free will. I know I've wrote quite a bit already, and you're most likely tired of this topic already, so I'll cut to the chase:

Imagine a game of billiards. Technically speaking, you can, with the right formulas, predict exactly where all the balls on the pool table will end up following a shot. In my opinion, the universe works the same way. We have atoms all around us that follow certain universal laws. Therefore, if one COULD (not saying will, because that's impossible) know the exact position, trajectory, and speed of every particle in the universe, one could possibly predict the entire future of the universe and everything in it (including the fact that you actually cared enough to read this far into the article).

Now if you're a physics major, you might argue that on a quantum level, our current laws of the universe don't make sense, and that merely observing a particle changes its behavior. I agree, but I am not arguing that its a possible task, because its not. I'm simply arguing that on a philosophical level, our future is already set in stone because there are laws to how the universe functions (on any level, we simply haven't gotten to that point of understanding yet.)

I might not be fully aware of some claims that I have made (maybe some of you physics majors know better), so please comment and share your knowledge with the rest of us :D.