Some Context: Over the past few days, I've been feeling deeply down and powerless due to a plethora of circumstances beyond my control. Why exactly do I feel this way? Last year, I studied the philosophical concepts of free will, the belief that we choose independent of fate or prior action, and determinism, the strict belief that all actions were predetermined from the Big Bang due to prior causes. Most people don't fall exclusively into either of these camps. Most people believe in Compatibilism, where free will and a deterministic universe exist simultaneously as long as outside forces don't interfere.

 At the end of the day, none of these beliefs are scientifically proven- as of now they are merely matters of opinion. Yet, free will is a cultural myth that the overwhelming majority of society runs on. The justice system in virtually every country and tribe relies on this myth to make life-or-death decisions. Evolutionarily speaking, we are inclined to believe it; the vast majority of us expect punishment if someone harms us or a loved one because we are innately tethered to believe we possess free agency, even if the science doesn't add up.I'm not endorsing a stance either way, but I truly believe the human race must bypass these binding beliefs that cause us to determine who lives and dies. It isn't fair or right, and it needs to stop. Believing in free will shouldn't mean applying those opinions to deprive people of life and liberty. It should be 100% scientifically based and focused on improving the world. This contradiction between science and society is eating me up.Society must treat people with significantly more value. Every human being has infinite worth, with unique thoughts, ideas, experiences, and values shaping who we are. Life is inexplicable, beautiful, and precious; it must be preserved, protected, and respected to the nth degree. Anyone—regardless of how much you find their thoughts, values, or actions heinous—is worthy of life, love, and dignity. People's identities and actions result more from brain chemistry and environment than "free will." Society is desensitized to violence, treating human life as an expendable, discardable commodity. Life is beautiful and mysterious beyond words. Always remember, there is a life behind every screen. I use the pseudonym Omnilight37 online for privacy, but I am a very real person with thoughts, feelings, a conscience, and a personality. I know everyone reading this has these too.

 Furthermore, I feel powerless due to a scientific publication I read. The 2008 study "Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain" published in Nature Neuroscience proved that brain activity in the prefrontal and parietal cortex predicts a person's decision up to 10 seconds before they consciously make it. If I live without full authority over my actions, am I just a tourist in my brain? This makes me feel deeply sad and disturbed. If I screw up, I am socially expected to say "sorry" and accept full responsibility. If I speed on the highway while trying to look at GE HMAAs, a cop will cite me over the vague notion of "free will." If my brain chemistry and environment cause me to commit something unthinkable, they will still blame me.How do I cope? Initially, I couldn't. I had multiple severe panic attacks and mental breakdowns. I tried several therapists, but none of them worked, so I had to create my own solution. Now, I detach my mind from world stresses by interacting with street lights, going on Lighting-Gallery.net, and playing my favorite songs on the violin. At the end of the day, peer-reviewed studies point to us lacking full control over our brain chemistry and actions. Think about how little we actually know about the human brain. My advice is to stop viewing social and political issues through a binary lens of "good vs. evil" and address them through brain chemistry and evidence like a scientist would. Please share your thoughts and ideas. Thank you for hearing me out.

This is quite the fascinating take.

I, for one, am an avid follower of the "free will" philosophy. Not in the context you provided (certainly not as scientific or in-depth), but to an extent where the decisions I make are fundamentally rooted in the "don't follow the herd" mentality.
Personally? I do things because I want to do them. I do not do things to please other people.

People often call me blunt because I call them out on their bullsh*t. I have no tolerance for backhanded disrespect or vitriole- if you have a qualm with me, tell it to my face. I do not respect those who pretend one thing to your face and the next moment turn around and begin to complain about you. I cut those people out of my life, permanently.

More about "free will"-- I, for one, consciously decide everything I do, every single day. I think about the mundane. I think about, and comprehend the rules I break. I am not a mere witness; I am an active participant, the person in the driver's seat of my own brain, and more importantly, my life.
I decide when I wake up in the morning.
I decide whether or not I am going to eat junk food that day, or alternatively eat healthy.
I decide whether or not I am going to go out and party all night on the weekends, or stay in and focus more on my own self, and my own goals.

I urban explore. I walk into buildings forgotten and neglected by society. Society conditions you and I to think, "Dangerous! Stay away!".... but the reality is much deeper than what the herd ever comes to think, see, or believe. They think, "The unknown! I fear it! I cannot be in a place where no societal safeguard will save me!"... I think, "Well, I trust my own judgement and capability to do the right thing, and not die." However, I understand that normal members of society love law and order. So, when I go on my little adventures, I dress impeccably. Usually a pair of dark slacks, or work jeans. Plus a button-up or nice graphic T-shirt, partnered with work boots. That, as well as a $2,000 camera around my neck, makes me look less like a hooligan, and more like a professional. And members of society are only trained to spot those that do not belong, and overlook those that, at cursory glance, do.

Every decision I make is a conscious one. If I am speeding down the highway going 90 in a 70, it is my conscious choice-- my "free will" in action.

I would advise you simply look into a mirror, take a deep breath, and realize you are far more in control of your own life than you make it out to be. All will be okay.

I will say I am a big believer in the most scientific explanations of everything. I don't know what consciousness really is but I do know that human bodies are a bunch of chemical reactions in a chemical soup. That means to me it is inherently predictable, and with any magic algorithm powerful enough you will be able to predict exactly what a specific person will do in a specific situation. Does anyone really have an opinion? Idk, I just know that when someone says something it triggers a series of chemical reactions that make the other person spit out something else. But I personally don’t really care, I at least have the illusion of free will and that’s all that matters. I feel the same way about simulation theory, sure maybe it’s possible but whatever, it doesn’t make a difference anyway. Anyway in that way I would say that everything is predetermined. But again I don’t put a lot of thought into it.

I just live my life as if I have free will even though I believe that isn’t the case. I don’t know if that’s weird or not. My whole opinion falls apart once we consider punishments for crimes, because if people were always going to do some action then who are we to punish them for it. Obviously I think punishing people is justified when they do bad things, again I don’t put a lot of thought into this stuff. I think a similar thing applies to the concept of “right” or “wrong”, I am usually swayed towards the side with most evidence but that doesn’t mean I’m always right. There’s no way to know for sure what is right or wrong, you just gotta take a (hopefully educated) guess. Everything I am saying here is contradictory. My opinion here does not hold water at all but I believe it anyway.

I say I believe in evidence-backed things but I have no evidence at all to back all of this. I would love to ridicule someone for believing something that isn’t evidence backed but here I am doing exactly that. That sort of goes back to the right or wrong subject. I believe so so many things very strongly, and I really hope and believe I am right but who knows. Whatever, maybe this post will be the start of years of questioning my existence, or maybe I will just continue living my life. I am sure that magic algorithm would know.

Randomness exists in quantum physics, and because these random occurrences can change the course of events, presumably the future cannot not be predicated exactly.  With enough information, probabilities could be assigned to the likelihood of future events, but any outcome which would be altered by a quantum phenomenon such as radioactive decay could not be known.

As for free will, if the future is predictable or predetermined, it's hard to understand how we have agency over our own actions.  However, even if the universe is nondeterministic, that still does not prove we have free will.  Random events are by their nature, random, and the fact that randomness exists doesn't seem to grant us any additional autonomy.  So I tend to agree with folks who contend free will is illusory, though I suppose it could depend on how you define free will.  Although it feels like we have control over our own decisions, any choice we make is based on past events which were outside of our control.  Besides those outside influences, we also do not have control over our own genetics or brain chemistry.  If every input into our thought process is outside of conscious control, then logically the output is as well.  How is a decision truly mine if I didn't control the factors that led me to make it? 

Assuming free will isn't real, that need not result in a total overhaul of our system of justice and notion of accountability.  A police officer doesn't ticket a speeding driver over merely because the driver's choice to speed was of their own volition.  Rather, the penalty is an effective means of preventing the driver from engaging in reckless behavior going forward.  Whether the individual had the ability to choose not to exceed the speed limit the first time around doesn't alter whether the repercussions will be effective at changing their behavior in the future.  Likewise in the future if all cars are self-driving we will still need a system in place to prevent them from speeding and if vehicle is prone to speeding or driving recklessly we will want it corrected or taken off the road.

Similarly, if we discovered free will does not exist, that need not end the practice of incarceration for crimes.  Much like we'd decommission a dangerous piece of machinery that's injuring people, we would not want let a dangerous individual roam free merely even if they are not truly choosing to commit those detrimental acts.  Mentally ill individuals who we don't consider guilty of a crime by reason of insanity are very often involuntarily committed, even if they are not imprisoned per se.  Lack of free will might change how we feel about offenders, however.  If nobody has free will, the distinction between crime committed to due mental illness and one by somebody of supposedly sound mind evaporates, though a system to respond to lawless acts is still required to maintain order in society.

As for right and wrong, I agree that it might not be possible to define them objectively.  However, it is clear that some actions result in greater pain and suffering while other actions lead to greater joy and prosperity.  In situations where we know one choice will result in the former and the other the latter, it seems clear that the right choice is the one that results in joy and prosperity, not pain and suffering.  Of course in practice it is rarely that simple.  The outcome of many decisions is uncertain, and many actions which lead to positive results for some result in negative consequences for others.

Crud, forgot about radioactive decay, disregard everything I just said lol. Excellent point. Well maybe there's a way to predict it that we just don't know yet. Lol probably not.