I would like to take us back to the first full week of classes. After reading sections of the Genesis and discussing the idea of creation theory, we had seemed to be split on the idea that God knew exactly what the subsequent events of his actions would be. Some of the class believed that Adam and Eve had a choice in regards to eating from the tree of knowledge, and some of us disagreed. The idea that free will may or may not be prevalent when there is a God was where the discussion ended. I’m going to bring forth reasons according to scientific theories and experiments, that the concept of free will is, in fact, an illusion.
To have free will means that your choices are the sole determinant of your actions. If what you do is caused by any factors or forces above and beyond your choices, then you do not act freely but rather act under the influence of something other than your own will.
“It might seem that whether or not we have free will depends on whether or not our world is deterministic.”
According to determinism, there are two forms called physical and theological determinism. Science shows us that results happen due to laws of physics, chemistry, biology, etc. Religion then tells us events happen according to some higher power. In both cases, things would appear as an outcome of a chain reaction or domino effect.
The neurologist Benjamin Libet, conducted an experiment back in the 80’s that casts doubt on the idea of free will. In the lab, he wired up subjects to an EEG machine which measures brain activity and then asked them to choose a simple hand movement when they felt like it. He got them to record the time at which they consciously decided to move their hands. The results showed that there was a significant time between when the person consciously decided to move and when brain activity connected with movement actually started triggering. This experiment has been repeated ever more frequently and with better results each time in favor that our subconscious is in control.
If our world is deterministic, then everything that happens would be a direct result of preceding events. If God is the creator of our world and God is also omnipotent and designed everything with intent, wouldn’t our world then be deterministic?