If free will was not real

[Edwardo Piet]

There are experiments where people read a statement that science has proved determinism, and some don't, and then both groups are tested on ethical behavior. The studies Dennett references suggest that people who read the statements supporting scientific determinism are less inclined to behave ethically and prosocially.

There are problems with the studies, though. The main one being that the literature the participants read describes something more like fatalism than determinism.

An equivocation.

Kind of reminds me of the title of Lawrence Krauss' book "A universe from nothing." All the science in it is correct and he's an excellent physicist but there's another equivocation right there. It should really be called "A universe from empty space teeming with quantum activity" but that would make a less punchy title.

(Also the original definition of atoms makes them unsplittable by definition. Science is always messing about with words but it's so they can focus on the hypothesis rather than changing the terms. The important thing is science gets the facts right rather than the semantics.)

OM NOM NOM (How many calories have I had today? Best not to think of it...now back to feasting {I love the word "feast" by the way...even more than I love embedded parentheses})!

Your mind is pure sex. Keep talking like this. Rawr!

You remind me of me and that makes me think I must be awesome because you are and you remind me of me!

You're not pretentious, but you're smart as hell, Hammy.

Can't I be both? If I'm not pretenious I need to try harder. It's my favourite kind of ambitious because it means I don't actually have to acheive anything I can just act clever and call that something to be proud of.

Act clever because I am. Because yes I am smart as hell: or IOW as fuck (profanity is better).

That's such a great way of putting it, isn't it. A version of free will worth wanting. I really do feel the same as you, in that accepting determinism is actually empowering. Understanding the physical limitation of cognition motivates me to engage in the activities that actually increase my options, and "freedom," if you will. Things like learning, and changing my mind, when the evidence warrants it.

Yes yes yes yes and yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh yes. Oh. And yes in that sense also.

I feel like giving up compatibilism would be compromising with laypeople who insist on free will being omnipotent and magical, and I don't want to do that.

I feel like giving up on my hard incompatabilism would be giving in to laypeople who insist that a belief in free will is required to live a meaningful life.

We just have a different approach. If you don't give up on your compatabilism at least that gives us more opportunities to have more sexy arguments.