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Originally Posted by clfst17
No, there's not more to it. This is strong objective evidence against free will, yes. There is also other strong objective evidence and, although surprising to most people, rather convincing subjective evidence as well.
Good. I thought there could be something I was missing. While the Libet experiments (maybe I'll comment on Sam Harris later) are interesting in that they show we make some decisions unconsciously, only realizing them later, why is that a big surprise and how does it interfere with the notion that we can consciously make decisions as well?
So far, all of these Libet type experiments I've read about involve very simple and random choices. Press a button with the right hand or left. In other words, flip a coin. We already know our brain unconsciously controls many of our actions: our breathing, heart rate, etc. But there are also probably thousands of decisions throughout the day we make unconsciously, like which foot to extend first when walking, which direction to look first before crossing the street, etc.
Perhaps when initially learning a process we had to think about these types of decisions, but then we quickly learned to delegate them to our unconscious mind. These decisions were of little consequence, many requiring nothing more than a "mental coinflip." If we had to stop and consciously think about each one our day would be quite mentally exhausting, would it not? So how are the decisions in these experiments any different?
Wouldn't the experiments be more interesting if they attached some kind of goal to the decision? That way, the subject would need to rationally work out which button to push. This would require some conscious thought and an actual conscious decision. I can remember playing Super Mario Bros. 2 as a kid, and between levels there was this slot machine thing where if you got the right sequence you won an extra life. I got really good a timing it so that I could usually hit the right sequence, but it wasn't easy. I'm pretty sure it involved a lot more conscious brain activity than the experiments we have discussed. It would be interesting to see Libet results of that type of decision making process.