Another Free-will poll, please bear with me!

[bennyboy]

and free will is as real as every other part of what it's like to be a living human being.

That's a rather spotty credential to have...lol....don't you think?  

Yes.  That's why I don't usually like to make a blanket assertion: "free will is real" / "free will is illusory"

It's little use to say that a rock isn't a solid object once you know it consists of 99.99999999% empty space.  That .000000001% stuff is still solid enough to cave skulls. And for similar reasons, it's little use to say that free will, or even mind, is an illusion.  I wake up in the morning, the lights turn on, and I begin to experience-- that's mind, and it's real enough.  I walk to the kitchen, open the fridge, and ponder what I will eat for breakfast-- that's free will, and it's real enough.

I guess the short version is that philosophical "truths" are interesting enough, but they don't seem to affect the human experience much. Only a fool would pull the blankets over his head and say, "Fuck it, I don't have free will anyway."