Is free will real?

[bennyboy]

The same goes for free will. It doesn't matter if the universe is deterministic or indeterministic, or if there is any mechanism for agency beyond the material. In the context of human existence, there are choices, and I make these choices as an expression of my personality, my memories, and my senses. The choice is imbued in every possible way with my existence. How I got my personality, my memories or my sense impressions, and exactly what they are in scientific terms, is irrelevant-- I have free will because my choices are an expression of my humanity.

"I make these choices as an expression of my personality" is correct, but in reductionist terms it simply means, "the strongest sensation, whether it's a thought or an instinct, brings about subsequent change."

In reductionist terms, nothing about the human experience has any meaning: not honesty, not loyalty, not love, not beauty, not inspiration. Not sensation, nor instinct, nor even change, probably. Remember, I'm not so much arguing that free will is real-- I'm arguing that it is not demonstrably less real than anything else about human existence. I'd also argue that the idea of free will is the key stone-- remove this idea, and everything we hold true about human existence is likely to fall.

Let me ask you a related question. Does anything flat exist in the universe?

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I'd say one is exercising free will whose higher functioning is not subject to the demands of instinct.

And what lifeform would that be?

Anything capable of holding a world view and acting on it-- i.e. some people, sometimes.