Free Will: Fact or Fiction

[Tino]

Question: How would a world populated with people who have free will be distinguishable from one where they only have the illusion of it?

To take a stab at your question I'd need to know what it is that is actually controlling our will in the scenario that free will is an illusion.

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Experiments are unnecessary. All you need to do is study Tourette Syndrome.

TS is a disorder. To claim that we have free will doesn't require that there is nothing that can interfere with our ability to take action.

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A man living in the tropics would never believe travelers eyewitness accounts that water can exist in a solid state. That would go against all the laws of nature that this man would know.

On Humes view, even though there are reliable accounts of water existing as a solid, we should not believe it.

I think that's the wrong conclusion. The right one is that the man in the tropics would be justified in asking to see the evidence, and upon being shown an ice cube and watching it melt, would consider it to be extraordinary evidence.

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Let's see ... A thought requires a chemical reaction first ...

If a thought is not a process of physiology, then what 'magic' produces it?

I don't know if it is more accurate to say that thinking causes a chemical reaction or as you've said, requires a chemical reaction. But let me use your statement. That thinking requires a chemical reaction says nothing about deciding on the action to take, which is the essence of free will.