No soul? No free will and no responsibility then, yet the latter's essential...

[Sal]

Interesting topic inst it, seems to me the debate has moved on from 'do we have free will' to 'is it better to believe in free will even though it may not be true'

On one side we have those who believe without free will (or at least the belief in free will) we will become monsters, not a belief i personally hold.
On  the other that moving forward in our understanding of will (free or not) is vital to understanding ourselves.

I'm really interested where the science and observation on this debate goes

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...ll/480750/

I think it's likely that we experience a sense of free will because of Theory of Mind, this coupled with an experience of Self makes us able to envision other people with thoughts and desires, different from oneself. This in turn gives us a deep connection to others so much so we have a word for it: Empathy, the ability to create a "minds eye" of how experience, a sort of model of the others perspective, within your own perspective. What I'm getting at is that our intuition about free will is intricately connected to our social evolution as a species. I wouldn't be surprised that other animals, that are able to recognize themselves in reflections, have a rudimentary Theory of Mind and ability to empathize, especially so for social animals.

That the notion of free will being illusory making people less ethical and more pessimistic is probably a result of them being steered towards a fatalistic conviction. Determinism itself has no say in how people behave, convictions and beliefs steer actions and behavior. I think people with incomplete ideas & broken framework about determinism leads to fatalism. A more rigorous understanding of determinism and how our brains work will also make people appreciate the lives lived, their own and others, and enhance an empathic worldview. The example that Sam Harris in the article gives, comparing the 9/11 attacks fraught with intentionality & hatred with the more focused and dispassionate approach after the Katrina hurricane (because we're not waging a War against Weather), enables people to really think deeply and with aim on how to react to the actions of other people, focused and without hatred.

I'm reminded about the idea about mystery contrasted with knowledge, in a tangential vein. If you know how a flower grows & reproduces, how it photosynthesises, why it has the color that it does, its whole life cycle and contrast that with the experience of awe and mystery of its beauty when you don't know the former, doesn't detract from it your sense of awe and beauty. I'd argue knowing how a flower is put together enhances your appreciation and experience of its awe and beauty.